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REMIGIUS    LAFORT,    S.T.L. 

Censor 


imprimatur 


JOHN    CARDINAL    FARLEY 

Archbishop  of  New  York 


New  York 

December  30,  191 1 


Photo :   G.  Brogi 

ST.     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 
From  the  painting  by  Spagnuletto  in  the  Palazzo  Reale,  Genoa 


SAINT 
FRANCIS   OF  ASSISI 

A  BIOGRAPHY 

BY 

JOHANNES    JORGENSEN 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  DANISH  WITH  THE 
AUTHOR'S  SANCTION 

BY 

T.    O'CONOR    SLOANE,    Ph.D.,  LL.D. 


New  Edition 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30th  STREET,  NEW  YORK 
LONDON,  BOMBAY,  AND  CALCUTTA 

1913 


COPYRIGHT,     1912,    BY 
LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO, 


All  Rights   Reserved 


First  Edition,  February,  191 2 
Reprinted,  with  Revisions,  January,  1913 


THE'PLIMPTON'PRESS 

[  VV  •  D  •  O  ] 
NORWOOD-MASS.  U'S'A 


TO 
MY    CHILDREN 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE 

THE  fruit  of  several  years  of  study  is  here  submitted 
to  the  circle  of  Northern  readers.  More  than  once 
it  has  seemed  that  this  book  would  never  be  fin- 
ished— modern  Franciscan  research  has  developed 
to  so  widespread  and  erratic  a  science,  that  those  who  once  get 
into  it  are  in  danger  of  never  getting  out  of  it  again.  Even 
Paul  Sabatier  told  me,  in  a  conversation  I  had  with  him  in 
Rome  in  1903,  that  he  found  it  difficult  to  preserve  a  compre- 
hensive view-point. 

Now,  however,  when  I  have  succeeded  in  completing  my 
book,  it  has  become  possible  for  me  to  pay  my  tribute  of 
thanks  on  all  sides.  First  of  all  I  thank  my  wife,  who  in 
her  time  zealously  advised  me,  and  by  personal  sacrifice 
contributed  to  the  carrying  out  of  my  plan  of  a  trip  devoted 
to  Franciscan  studies.  I  next  owe  my  thanks  to  those  who 
gave  me  material  assistance,  both  for  the  necessary  prelim- 
inary studies  as  well  as  for  the  final  development  and 
production.  My  especial  thanks  are  due  to  Baroness  L. 
Stampe-Charisius,  Baroness  P.  Rosenorn-Lehn  as  well  as  to 
the  directors  of  the  Carlsberg  endowment;  especially  Prof.  Dr. 
Edward  Holm.  Also  Prof.  Carl  Larsen,  and  my  publisher, 
Director  Ernst  Bojesen,  are  heartily  thanked  for  the  interest 
they  showed  in  my  work. 

My  thanks  are  again  due  to  all  who  by  personal  inter- 
est have  facilitated  my  studies.  First  I  thank  Countess 
H.  Holstein-Ledreborg,  who,  by  her  translation  into  German 
of  my  "Pilgrimsbog,"  undertaken  with  such  great  devotion, 
has  more  than  once  paved  the  way  for  me  and  opened  doors 
and  hearts.  I  must  next  name  a  number  of  Franciscans  — 
above  all  Rev.  David  Fleming,  who,  by  his  commendation 

vii 


viii  author's    preface 

as  Vicar- General  of  the  Order,  made  possible  for  me  my 
Pilgrimage  in  1903  through  Franciscan  Italy  —  next  the 
historian  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  Rev.  Leonard  Lemmens, 
and  the  Guardians  and  Fathers  in  the  different  convents 
which  I  visited  on  the  above-named  journey,  especially  Rev. 
Pacifico  in  Greccio,  Rev.  Giovanni  da  Greccio  in  Fonte 
Colombo,  Rev.  Teodoro  da  Carpineto  in  the  convent  of  La 
Foresta,  Rev.  Vincenzo  Stefano  Jacopi  in  Cortona,  Rev. 
Saturnino  da  Caprese,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Charon  de  Guersac 
at  La  Verna.  I  give  hearty  thanks  again  to  Rev.  Don  Seve- 
rino,  pastor  in  Poggio  Bustone,  and  to  the  learned  engineer, 
Albert  Provaroni,  of  the  same  place,  to  the  Capuchins  in 
Celle  and  to  the  Redemptorists  in  Cortona,  under  whose 
hospitable  roof  I  found  a  refuge  in  the  days  I  passed  in  the 
city  of  St.  Margaret.  With  special  recognition  I  give  my 
thanks  to  the  Brothers  Matteuci,  who  gave  me  a  home  in 
Poggio  Bustone  and  helped  me  in  my  work.  I  only  wish 
that  I  could  extend  this  list  enough  to  include  even  a  part 
of  all  who  showed  me  friendship  and  hospitality  in  my 
wanderings.  For  those  who  know  Italian  people  this  seems 
very  natural. 

But  the  present  book  might  never  have  been  completed 
if  I  had  not  found  a  place  of  refuge  in  the  Franciscan  convent 
at  Frauenberg,  where  next  door  to  my  room  I  had  a  rich 
library  of  Franciscan  literature  from  the  earliest  to  the  most 
recent  time.  The  second  half  (third  and  fourth  books  with 
the  Conclusion  of  the  Appendix)  were  written  there.  Should 
my  work  seem  to  have  any  worth,  a  due  portion  of  the  honor 
for  its  existence  is  due  to  Rev.  Maximilian  Brandys,  Pro- 
vincial of  the  Franciscan  province  of  Thuringia,  to  which 
Frauenberg  belongs,  to  Rev.  Pacificus  Wehner  (now  in  Gor- 
heim  by  Sigmaringen),  as  well  as  to  the  Guardian  of  Frauen- 
berg, Rev.  Saturnin  Goer,  who  with  such  great  hospitality 
and  affection  regarded  me  for  six  weeks  as  a  member  of  his 
great  convent  family.  I  also  thank  the  willing  and  friendly 
Fathers  who  tried  to  help  in  every  way,  and  especially  must 
I  thank  my  tireless  and  devoted  friend,  Rev.  Michael  Bihl, 
by  whose  ever  ready  assistance  so  many  stones  were  removed 
from  my  road.     I  shall  never  forget  the  summer  evenings  in 


author's    preface  ix 

the  convent  gardens  of  Frauenberg,  when  we  walked  up  and 
down  the  long  walk,  as  the  sun,  large  and  red,  sank  behind 
the  trees,  and  I  told  him  of  my  day's  work  and  sought  Pater 
Michael's  practical  opinion,  sometimes  on  one,  sometimes  on 
another,  difficult  point. 

And  thus  I  take  leave  of  this  work  which  has  so  long  been 
the  centre  of  my  labor  and  research.  To  write  about  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi  should  have  been  his  own  affair,  for  what 
does  he  himself  say  in  the  Speculum  perjectionis?  "The 
Emperor  Charlemagne,  Roland,  Holger,  and  all  the  other 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table  fought  the  heathen  unto  death 
and  won  the  victory  over  them,  and  at  the  end  became  them- 
selves holy  martyrs  and  died  in  the  battle  for  the  faith  of 
Christ.  But  now  there  are  many  who,  by  simply  telling 
of  their  actions,  hope  to  win  honor  and  fame  from  mankind. 
Also  there  are  now  many  who,  by  simply  preaching  on  what 
the  saints  have  done,  wish  to  win  honor  and  fame." 

Deep  and  wise,  therefore,  was  the  saying  of  Francis:  "  Man 
has  as  much  of  knowledge  as  he  executes,"  tantum  homo  habet 
de  scientia,  quantum  operatur.  The  ultimate  measure  of  wis- 
dom is  to  serve  and  to  properly  conduct  one's  life;  worth  is 
only  attained  by  putting  into  practice.  Therefore  there  is 
a  practical  and  moral  design  behind  all  the  literary  diligence 
of  the  old  authors  of  legends.  Thus  also  a  modern  biogra- 
pher of  St.  Francis,  who  would  really  be  inspired  by  the 
spirit  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  like  the  old  convent-brother 
writers,  must  utter  the  words:  Fac  secundum  exemplar. 
"Learn  from  Francis,  that  ideals  ought  to  be  put  into 
practice!" 

j-j. 

Frauenberg,  Feast  of  St.  Clara  of  Assisi,  1906. 


CONTE  NTS 

BOOK  ONE 

Francis  the  Church  Builder 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Francis'     Sickness.     1204.     Re-convalescence.     The    Vanity     of 

All  Things 3 

II.     Francis' Ancestry.    Birth,  1 182.    Name.    Early  youth.     LaGaya 

Scienza.     Generosity  to  his  friends  and  to  the  poor      ...        8 

III.  Local  History.     War  between   Assisi  and  Perugia.     Francis  is 

taken  prisoner  at  Ponte  San  Giovanni  and  is  a  prisoner  1202- 
1203 18 

IV.  State  of  the  Times.     War  between  Emperor  and  Pope.     Francis 

wants  to  enlist  under  Walter  of  Brienne,  1205.  The  Vision 
in  Foligno.  Francis  returns  home.  New  festivities.  Fran- 
cis thinks  of  taking  a  Bride 21 

V.  Francis'  frequent  prayers  in  a  cave  outside  the  City.  Goes  to 
Rome  and  begs  at  the  door  of  St.  Peter's.  Begins  to  take  care 
of  the  Lepers 27 

VI.  Francis  prays  in  San  Damiano.  "Go  hence  and  build  up  My 
House,  for  it  is  falling  down!"  Francis  retires  to  a  cave  near 
San  Damiano,  1207 36 

VII.  Francis  imprisoned  by  his  Father  is  released  by  his  Mother.  He 
gives  his  clothes  back  to  his  Father  and  goes  out  into  the  world, 
April,  1207,  as  the  Herald  of  God.  He  goes  to  Gubbio,  takes 
care  of  the  Lepers,  returns  to  Assisi,  begs  from  door  to  door. 
He  rebuilds  the  churches  of  S.  Damiano,  S.  Pietro,  and  Porti- 
uncula.  On  February  24,  1209,  he  hears  the  priest  in  Portiun- 
cula  read  Matth.  x.  7-13,  and  decides  to  live  by  those  Words.      43 

BOOK  TWO 

Francis  the  Evangelist 

I.  Francis  preaches  in  Assisi.  The  first  Disciples.  Bernard  of  Quin- 
tavalle,  Pietro  dei  Cattani,  Giles.  The  first  Mission  Journeys. 
Bernard  and  Giles  in  Florence,  Francis  in  Rieti.  He  hears  in 
Poggio  Bustone  that  his  sins  are  forgiven 61 


Xii  CONTENTS 

II.  The  Shed  at  Rivo  Torto.  Francis  writes  a  forma  vita  and  goes, 
1210,  to  Rome  with  eleven  Brothers  to  have  it  ratified  by  Inno- 
cent III.     He  only  obtains  a  verbal  approval 76 

III.  Temptations  to  become  a  Hermit.     The  twelfth  Disciple:  the 

Priest,  Silvester.  New  Missionary  Activity.  Preaching  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Assisi.  Peace  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes 
in  Assisi  concluded,  12 10.  The  Friars'  life  in  Congregation. 
They  leave  Rivo  Torto        96 

IV.  The  Portiuncula  Chapel.     New  disciples:    Rufino,  Masseo,  Leo, 

Juniper.  Brother  Giles'  Way  of  Life.  Brother  Masseo. 
Brother  Rufino.  Brother  Juniper.  Brother  John  the  Simple. 
Brother  Leo.  Francis  and  Leo  say  the  Breviary  together.  The 
Perfect  Joy 105 

V.  St.  Clara.  Her  family.  Training.  Hears  Francis  preach  in 
Lent,  1 21 2,  in  S.  Giorgio's  Church  in  Assisi.  Leaves  her  home 
March  18,  1212,  and  takes  convent  vows  in  Portiuncula. 
Francis  secures  a  shelter  for  her  and  the  sisters,  who  have 
joined  her  in  S.  Damiano.  She  writes  a  forma  vivendi  for 
them.  Clara's  life.  Her  feast  with  Francis.  She  holds  the 
Saracens  back  from  S.  Damiano.  Her  grief  over  Francis' 
death.  Her  contest  for  the  right  to  be  poor.  She  writes  a 
Rule  for  her  Sisters  and  dies,  two  days  after  getting  it  ap- 
proved by  Innocent  IV,  August  11,  1253 122 

BOOK  THREE 

God's  Singer 

I.  The  Italian  Mission  of  1211-1212.  Cortona,  Arezzo,  Florence. 
John  Parenti.  Francis  tries  to  evade  the  homage  of  the 
people.  Lent  of  1211  on  Lake  Thrasimene,  winter  of  same  year 
in  Hermitage  of  Sarteano.  What  is  God's  will?  Francis  asks 
the  advice  of  Clara  and  Silvester,  gets  the  answer  that  his  call 
is  to  preach.     He  preaches  to  the  birds 145 

II.  Francis  wants  to  preach  to  the  Heathen.  He  goes  to  Rome,  meets 
Jacopa  de  Settesoli.  On  the  way  to  the  Holy  Land  is 
wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Slavonia  and  goes  thence  as  a  stowaway 
to  Ancona.  In  S.  Severino  converts  the  "  Verse  King,"  Gugli- 
elmo  Divino.  Francis'  relations  to  the  learned,  to  thieves,  and 
robbers.  He  preaches,  May  8,  12 13,  in  Monte  Feltro,  con- 
verts Count  Orlando  dei  Cattani  and  receives  Mount  Alverna 
as  a  gift.  In  the  winter  of  12 13-12 14  he  visits  Spain  and  is 
present  at  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council.  Jacques  de  Vitry's 
picture  of  the  Order  in  1216 151 


CONTENTS  Xlll 

III.  The  Portiuncula  Indulgence 166 

IV.  Constitution  of  the  Franciscan  Order.     The  Chapter-Assemblies. 

Francis'  Admonitions  at  them.     The  movement  grows.     Fran- 
cis seeks  help  to  direct  it 175 

V.  Cardinal  Hugolin.  Pentecost  Chapter  of  121 7.  Missions  are 
sent  beyond  the  frontiers  of  Italy.  Francis  decides  to  go  to 
France.  On  his  way  there  visits  Hugolin  in  Florence  and  is 
deterred  from  going.  Hugolin  organizes  the  Clares.  The  de- 
velopment of  the  Order  of  Clares  up  to  1253 181 

VI.  Missions  in  France,  Germany,  and  Hungary  not  successful.  Fran- 
cis goes  in  the  winter  of  121 7-1 218  with  Hugolin  to  Rome  and 
has  an  audience  with  Honorius  III.  He  meets  St.  Dominic. 
At  the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  12 18  Hugolin  is  present  for  the 
first  time  as  Protector  of  the  Order.  New  missionaries  sent  out 
May  26,  1 2 19.  Honorius  issues  his  Letters  of  Protection  for 
the  missionaries,  June  n,  12 19.  Missions  in  Tunis  and  in 
Morocco.     The  first  five  martyrs 192 

VII.  Francis  and  Pietro  dei  Cattani  start  for  the  Holy  Land,  June  24, 
1 2 19,  preach  among  the  Crusaders  in  Egypt,  and  before  the 
Sultan  Malek  el  Kamel.  Francis'  two  vicars,  Gregory  of  Naples 
and  Matthew  of  Narni,  hold  a  Chapter,  at  which  they  try  to 
change  the  Rule  of  the  Order.  Brother  Stephen  brings  this 
news  to  Francis,  and  Francis  returns.  He  goes  at  once  to 
Rome  and  calls  a  Chapter  for  Pentecost,  1221.  Honorius,  in 
accordance  with  Francis,  ordains  a  novitiate  of  the  Order, 
September  22,  1220.  Francis  resigns  his  leadership  and  names 
Pietro  dei  Cattani  as  his  vicar  and  after  him  Elias  of  Cortona. 
"The  Chapter  of  Mats."  The  new  German  Mission.  An- 
thony of  Padua 202 

VIII.  Francis  and  Caesar  of  Speier  work  on  a  new  Rule  of  the  Order. 
Development  of  the  Rule.  Francis'  Admonitiones.  Rule  for 
hermitages.  Rule  for  Portiuncula.  The  original  Rule  and  the 
''Rule  of  1221" 213 

IX.  Disputes  about  the  final  Rule  from  May  30,  1221,  to  Novem- 
ber 29,  1223.  Opposition  to  Francis.  Peter  Stacia.  Francis' 
contest  for  evangelical  simplicity  and  evangelical  poverty. 
Francis  and  Anthony  of  Padua.  Francis  in  Bologna  August, 
15,  1222 226 

X.  The  new  movement  and  the  older  Franciscans.  Brother  Giles. 
The  English  Franciscans.  The  "Third  Order."  Contest  be- 
tween the  Brothers  of  Penance  and  the  authorities    ....     236 


XIV  CONTENTS 

XI.  Co-operation  of  Francis  and  Hugolin,  and  of  Francis  and  Elias 
of  Cortona.  Francis'  letter  to  Elias.  The  Rule  is  perfected. 
Francis  at  Fonte  Colombo.     The  final  Rule 247 

XII.  Honorius  approves  the  Rule,  1223.  Francis  and  "Brother 
Jacoba."  The  Lambs  and  Francis.  Francis  with  Cardinal 
Leo.  He  leaves  Rome,  celebrates  Christmas,  1223,  in  Greccio. 
The  first  Christmas  Crib 257 


BOOK  FOUR 

Francis  the  Hermit 

I.     Francis'    Sickness.     His   literary    activity.     His    five    Circulars. 

Letter  to  Brother  Leo 265 

II.  Francis  Preaches  by  his  example.  His  truthfulness.  Zeal  for 
Poverty.  His  Alms.  Easter  in  Greccio.  Francis  and  the 
Demons 273 

III.  Francis  and  his  intimates.  Brother  Rufino's  temptation.  "The 
ideal  Friar  Minor."  The  Spanish  Franciscans.  Francis  reads 
in  the  hearts  of  men.  Francis  and  obedience.  Francis  and 
prayer.     The  Evangelic  Joy.     Francis'  ecstasy 280 

IV.     Francis  goes  in  the  summer  of  1224  to  Mount  Alverna.     Francis 

and  Brother  Leo.     The  Stigmatization,  September  14,  1224     .     291 

V.  Francis'  Song  of  Praise  in  thanks  for  the  Stigmatization.  The 
Blessing  for  Brother  Leo.  He  leaves  Mount  Alverna,  passes 
through  Borgo  S.  Sepolcro  and  Citta  di  Castello  to  Portiuncula. 
Begins  again  to  take  care  of  the  Lepers 301 

VI.     Francis'  Blindness.     Francis  at  San  Damiano  in  the  Summer  of 

1225.     His  love  of  nature.     He  composes  the  Sun  Song    .      .     308 

VII.  Francis  goes  to  Rieti.  The  vineyard  in  S.  Fabiano.  An  angel 
plays  for  him  at  night  in  Rieti.  He  is  treated  by  physicians  for 
his  eyes,  goes  to  Siena,  writes  his  first  Testament  to  the 
Brothers.  Brother  Elias  takes  him  to  Celle,  thence  to  Assisi. 
He  lies  sick  in  the  Bishop's  residence,  makes  peace  between 
the  Bishop  and  the  Podesta.  He  sends  his  farewell  to  St. 
Clara,  dictates  his  Testament.  He  lets  himself  be  taken  down 
to  Portiuncula,  blessing  Assisi  on  the  way.  In  Portiuncula  he 
receives  a  visit  from  Jacopa  de  Settesoli,  breaks  bread  with 
the  Brothers.     He  dies  October  3,  1226 316 

VIII.    The  Funeral  Procession.    Jacopa  de  Settesoli 334 


CONTENTS  XV 

APPENDIX 

Authorities  for  the  Biography  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi 

I.     His  Writings 340 

Religious  Poems 341 

Prose  Writings 349 

II.     Biographers         351 

1.  Thomas  of  Celano  Group 352 

2.  Brother  Leo  Group 356 

a.  Legenda  trium  sociorum 356 

b.  Anonymus  Perusinus 367 

c.  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda 368 

3.  St.  Bonaventure  Group        378 

4.  Speculum  Group 382 

a.  Speculum  perfectionis 384 

b.  Legenda  antiqua  391 

c.  Actus  (Fioretti) 393 

III.     Other  Sources 395 

a.  Histories  of  the  Order 395 

b.  Authorities  outside  of  the  Order 400 

c.  Modern  Works 401 

INDEX 411 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi Frontispiece 

From    the  painting  by  Spagnoletto   in  the   Palazzo 
Reale,  Genoa. 

Contemporary  Portrait  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  at 

the  Sacro  Speco,  Subiaco Facing  page     62 

(From  a  photograph  kindly  lent  by  Perrin  el  Cie,  Paris.) 

St.  Clara  of  Assisi  and  Scenes  from  her  Life.     .  "122 

Attributed  to  Cimabue.    Fresco  in  Church  of  Santa 
Chiara,  Assisi. 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi "    298 

From  the  fresco,  attributed  to  Cimabue,  at  Assisi. 

The  Blessing  of  Brother  Leo "    346 

Autograph  of  St.  Francis. 


BOOK    ONE 
FRANCIS   THE  CHURCH  BUILDER 


Nunc  latebat  in  eremis,  nunc  ecclesi- 
arum  reparationibus  insistebat  devotus. 

Now  he  hid  himself  in  hermitages,  now 
he  piously  devoted  himself  to  the  restoration 
of  churches. 

ST.  ANTONINUS  OF  FLORENCE 


SAINT  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  CONVALESCENT 

THERE  awoke  one  morning  in  Assisi  a  young  man 
who  was  just  recovering  from  a  severe  illness.  It 
was  seven  hundred  years  ago.  The  hour  was  an 
early  one.  The  window  blinds  were  not  yet  opened. 
Out  of  doors  the  day's  business  was  in  full  blast;  the  bells 
for  mass  had  long  ago  rung  out  from  St.  Maria  del  Vescovado, 
which  lay  almost  under  the  windows.  The  strong  morning 
light  streamed  in  through  the  crack  where  the  window  blinds 
met. 

The  young  man  knew  it  all  so  well  —  one  morning  after 
another  the  long  weeks  of  his  convalescence  had  passed  thus. 
Soon  his  mother  would  come  in  and  would  draw  the  shutters 
aside,  and  the  light  would  enter  in  dazzling  brightness. 
Then  he  would  get  his  morning  draught,  and  his  bed 
would  be  made  over;  he  used  to  lie  on  one  side  of  the  wide 
bed  while  the  other  was  made  up  for  him.  And  so  he  would 
lie  there,  tired,  but  at  peace,  and  look  out  on  the  blue 
cloudless  autumn  sky,  listening  to  the  splashing  on  the  stones 
of  the  street  as  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  threw  their 
waste  water  out  of  the  windows.  As  the  forenoon  advanced 
the  rays  of  the  sun  began  to  come  in  —  first  along  the  high 
wall  of  the  window  alcove  —  then  right  across  the  brick  floor 
of  the  room,  and  when  they  approached  the  bed,  it  was  time 
to  take  the  midday  meal.  After  midday  the  blinds  were  again 
closed,  and  he  took  his  siesta  in  the  quiet  comfortable  obscurity 
of  the  room.  Then  he  awoke  and  the  blinds  were  again  thrown 
open  to  admit  the  light;  the  sun  had  left  the  window  —  but 
if  he  raised  himself  up  in  the  bed,  he  could  see  the  mountains 

3 


4  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

under  a  blue  veil  on  the  other  side  of  the  plain,  and  soon  the 
crimson  evening  red  of  the  late  autumn  day  burned  in 
the  western  sky.  As  the  darkness  quickly  fell,  he  heard  the 
noise  of  sheep,  which  were  driven  bleating  into  the  stable,  and 
of  peasants  and  peasant  girls,  who  sang  on  their  way  home 
from  the  fields.  They  were  the  wonderful  heart-gripping 
folk-songs  of  Umbria  which  the  invalid  heard  —  the  songs 
which  even  to-day  are  in  the  people's  mouths  and  whose  slow, 
wonderfully  melancholy  tones  fill  the  soul  with  sadness  till 
it  is  ready  to  burst  with  helpless  longing  and  melancholy. 

At  last  the  songs  ceased  and  it  was  night.  Over  the  dis- 
tant mountains  gleamed  a  single  bright  star.  When  that 
showed  itself,  it  was  time  to  close  the  shutters  and  to  light 
the  night-lamp  —  the  lamp  which  in  the  long  nights  of  fever 
had  constantly  burned  through  the  long  hours  of  his  uneasy 
dreams. 

To-day  there  was  to  be  a  change  —  to-day  at  last  he  was 
to  have  permission  to  leave  his  bed.  How  glad  he  was  to  go 
into  the  other  rooms,  to  see  and  touch  all  the  things  he  had 
so  long  missed,  and  had  been  so  near  losing  for  ever.  He 
must  even  venture  down  into  the  business  offices  —  see  the 
people  come  and  do  business,  see  the  clerks  measure  the  good 
Tuscan  cloth  with  their  yardsticks,  and  draw  in  the  bright 
ringing  coins. 

Just  as  the  young  man  was  busy  with  these  dreams  the 
door  opened.  As  on  every  morning  of  his  illness,  it  was  his 
mother  who  entered.  As  she  threw  the  shutters  aside  he 
saw  that  she  carried,  as  she  brought  his  morning  meal,  a 
suit  of  man's  clothes  over  her  arm. 

"I  have  had  a  new  suit  of  clothes  made  for  you,  my 
Francis,"  said  she  as  she  laid  them  down  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed. 

And  as  he  finished  his  meal  she  sat  down  by  the  window 
while  he  dressed  himself. 

"What  a  lovely  morning  it  is,"  said  she,  almost  as  if  she 
were  talking  to  herself.  "How  brightly  the  sun  shines!  I 
see  all  the  houses  over  in  Bettona  so  clearly,  although  there 
is  the  whole  extent  of  the  broad  plain  between  us,  and  out  in 
the  middle  of  the  green  vineyards,  Isola  Romanesca  lies  like 


THE     CONVALESCENT  5 

an  island  in  a  lake.  And  smoke  is  rising  straight  up  from  all 
the  chimneys  —  as  if  from  a  censer  in  a  church.  Ah,  it  seems 
to  me,  my  Francis,  that  on  such  a  morning  as  this,  heaven  and 
earth  are  as  beautiful  as  a  church  on  a  feast-day,  and  that  all 
creatures  praise,  love  and  thank  God." 

To  these  words  Francis  gave  no  answer  but  silence. 

But  a  moment  later  he  broke  out,  as  he  ceased  his  dressing: 

"  How  weak  lam!" 

His  mother  changed  the  current  of  her  remarks  and  their 
tone. 

"It  is  always  so,  when  one  has  been  sick,"  she  said  brightly. 
"As  long  as  you  lie  in  bed  you  think  that  you  can  do  anything, 
but  as  soon  as  you  get  your  feet  from  under  the  covers  you 
find  that  it  is  different.  I  know  this  from  my  own  experience, 
and  therefore  I  had  the  foresight  to  bring  a  stick  for  you." 

And  she  went  to  the  door  and  brought  in  a  beautiful  pol- 
ished stick  with  an  ivory  handle.  Soon  after  the  mother  and 
son  together  left  the  sick-room. 

Some  time  passed  before  Francis  could  venture  to  go  out 
of  his  home  alone.  He  and  his  mother  had  visited  all  the 
rooms.  They  had  been  down  in  the  shop,  where  the  clerks 
had  greeted  them  with  a  hearty  and  delighted  "Good  morn- 
ing, Madonna  Pica!  Good  morning  and  welcome  back, 
Signorino  Francesco!"  But  Francis  had  to  go  further 
than  through  rooms  and  shop,  further  than  through  the 
house  —  he  must  go  out  and  greet  the  fields  and  vineyards, 
greet  the  open  heaven  and  look  far  over  the  wide  fertile 
plain. 

And  now  he  stood  outside  the  city  gate  on  the  road  which 
goes  to  Foligno  along  the  foot  of  Monte  Subasio.  Here  he 
stood,  supported  by  his  stick,  and  looked  out.  Directly  in 
front  of  him  was  a  vineyard;  the  vines  were  festooned  from 
tree  to  tree;  heavy  blue  bunches  hung  under  the  broad  leaves; 
soon  it  will  be  the  grape  harvest  and  the  beautiful  time  of 
wine-pressing.  Further  down  the  slope  were  the  olive  groves 
that  extended  over  the  plain  and  covered  it  with  a  silver-grey 
vefl.  Here  and  there  appeared  the  white  buildings  and  farm- 
houses under  a  veil  of   mist    which  now  towards  midday 


6  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

began  to  rise  out  of  the  earth  —  the  most  distant  buildings 
seemed  hardly  larger  than  little  white  stones. 

Francis  saw  it  all,  yet  not  as  he  should  have  seen  it.  That 
excess  of  delight,  with  which  the  sight  of  the  landscape's 
bright  colors  and  of  the  mountain's  fine  outline  against  the 
clear  sky  formerly  affected  him,  was  missing.  It  was  as  if 
the  heart  which  formerly  had  beaten  so  young  and  strongly 
in  his  breast  had  suddenly  grown  old  —  it  seemed  to  him  as 
if  he  never  again  could  enjoy  anything.  He  felt  too  hot  in 
the  sun,  and  retreated  to  the  shadow  of  a  wall.  His  knees 
were  too  weak  to  let  him  go  down  the  hill;  he  also  was  hungry 
and  caught  himself  dreaming  of  a  good  dinner  and  of  a  glass 
of  wine.  And  like  a  shudder  the  sensation  went  through 
him  that  his  youth  was  gone  —  that  the  things  which  he  had 
believed  would  constantly  give  him  peace  would  now  give 
him  no  joy  —  that  all  that  he  had  thought  to  be  a  treasure 
which  never  could  be  taken  from  him:  the  sunshine,  the  blue 
heaven,  the  green  fields  —  all  that  he  in  his  convalescence's 
weary  days  had  so  bitterly  longed  for  like  an  exiled  king  for 
his  kingdom  —  that  all  this  in  his  hands  was  now  worthless, 
smouldering  and  going  to  ashes,  like  the  palms  of  Palm- 
Sunday  burned  and  reduced  to  the  ashes  which  the  priest 
on  Ash- Wednesday  puts  upon  the  heads  of  the  faithful,  with 
the  sad  and  truthful  words,  "Remember,  man,  of  dust  thou 
art,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return." 

It  was  all  dust,  dust  and  nothing  but  dust  —  and  ashes, 
death  and  judgment,  mortality  and  vanity  —  all  was 
vanity ! 

Francis  stood  there  a  long  time  and  looked  into  space  — 
it  was  as  though  he  saw  the  future  blossoming  before  his 
eyes.  Slowly  he  turned  away,  and,  leaning  heavily  on  his 
stick,  went  back  to  Assisi. 

For  him  the  day  was  come  of  which  the  Lord  spoke  to  the 
prophet:  "I  will  spread  thy  path  with  thorns"  —  the  day 
when  a  mysterious  hand  writes  words  of  death  and  corrup- 
tion on  the  walls  of  the  feast  chamber. 

But,  like  all  who  are  in  the  first  steps  of  their  conversion, 
the  young  man  immediately  thought  as  much  of  the  failings 
of  others  as  of  his  own.     For  as  he  saw  the  change  that  had 


THE     CONVALESCENT  7 

taken  place  in  himself,  his  thoughts  were  directed  to  his 
friends  with  whom  he  had  so  often  stood  there  and  admired 
the  beautiful  view.  "How  foolish  they  are  that  they  love 
perishable  things,"  he  thought  within  himself  with  a  sort  of 
feeling  of  superiority  as  he  went  back  to  the  city  gate.1 

1The  material  for  this  sketch  is  found  undeveloped,  but  clearly  enough 
expressed,  in  the  first  and  second  chapters  of  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  prima  — 
and  the  stick  on  which  Francis  rests  himself  is  even  included  —  also  in  Bona- 
venture  (Legenda  major,  cap.  I,  n.  2)  and  Julian  of  Speier  (Acta  Sanctorum,  Oct. 
II,  p.  563). 


CHAPTER  II 
INFANCY  AND   YOUTH 

FRANCESCO  —  or  as  we  say  in  our  language,  Francis  — 
had  that  morning  just  completed  his  twenty-second 
year  and  was  the  eldest  son  of  one  of  the  richest  men 
of  Assisi,  the  great  cloth-merchant  Pietro  de  Bernar- 
done. 

The  family  was  not  indigenous  to  Assisi  —  Pietro's  father 
Bernardone  or  "great  Bernhard"  had  come  from  Lucca,  and 
belonged  to  the  renowned  Luccan  family  of  weavers  and 
merchants,  the  Moriconi.  Francis'  mother,  Lady  Pica,  was  of 
still  more  distant  origin;  Ser  Pietro  had  made  her  acquaint- 
ance on  one  of  his  business  trips  in  beautiful  legendary  Pro- 
vence, and  took  her  home  as  his  bride  to  the  little  Italian 
village  under  the  mountain  declivity  of  Subasio.1 

Assisi  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  Italy.  Even  in  the  books 
of  Ptolemy  it  is  called  Aisision;  and  in  the  year  46  B.C.  the 
Latin   poet   Propertius   was   born  there.     Christianity   was 

1  Ottavio,  Bishop  of  Assisi,  tells  in  his  book,  published  in  1689,  Lumi  sulla 
Portiuncida,  that  he,  during  a  visit  to  Lucca,  had  seen  an  old  manuscript,  whence 
he  copied  the  following,  word  for  word:  "There  were  in  Lucca  two  brothers 
who  were  merchants  named  Moriconi.  One  remained  in  the  region,  while 
the  other  with  the  surname,  Bernardone,  went  to  Umbria  and  settled  in  Assisi, 
married  there  and  had  a  son  whom  he  named  Pietro.  Pietro,  who  was  heir  to 
a  considerable  fortune,  courted  a  young  girl  of  noble  family,  named  Pica,  and 
was  St.  Francis'  father."  For  Pica's  Provencal  extraction  see  Regie  du  Tiers 
Ordre  de  la  Penitence  .  .  .  explained  by  R.  P.  Claude  Frassen,  Paris,  1752,  and 
Annates  Franciscaines,  Oct.,  1890.  Wadding  (Annates,  I,  p.  17)  gives  a  family 
tree  of  the  Moriconi,  coming  within  the  fourth  degree  of  consanguinity  of  St. 
Francis.  Also  according  to  Wadding  (ditto,  p.  18)  the  priors  in  Assisi,  Feb- 
ruary 3, 1534,  testify  that  there  lived  two  descendants  of  Pietro  di  Bernardone  in 
the  city,  namely  the  brothers  Antonio  and  Bernardone,  both  of  whom  sup- 
ported themselves  as  beggars.  See  also  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  pp.  556-557,  Cristo- 
fani:  Storie  d' Assisi,  I,  pp.  78  et  seq.  Sabatier:  Vie  de  St.  F.  (1905),  p.  2,  n.  2, 
le  Monnier:  Hist,  de  St.  F.,  I  (1891),  pp.  1-6,  Cherance:  St.  F.  d'A.  (1900), 
pp.  2-3. 

8 


INFANCY     AND     YOUTH  9 

brought  to  this  region  by  St.  Crispolitus  or  Crispoldo — accord- 
ing to  the  legend  a  disciple  of  St.  Peter  as  well  as  of  St.  Britius, 
Bishop  of  Spoleto,  who  at  the  command  of  the  prince  of  the 
Apostles,  in  the  year  58,  is  said  to  have  consecrated  St.  Cris- 
poldo as  bishop  in  Vettona,  now  Bettona,  and  to  have  assigned 
him  the  charge  over  the  whole  district  from  Foligno  in  the 
south  to  Nocera  in  the  north.  Under  the  persecutions  of 
Domitian,  St.  Crispoldo  suffered  martyrdom;  the  same  fate 
overtook  later  three  of  Umbria's  bishops  —  St.  Victorinus 
(about  240),  St.  Sabinus  (303),  and  St.  Rufinus  who  was  the 
apostle  of  Assisi.1 

In  honor  of  the  last  named  there  was  erected  in  Assisi,  in 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  beautiful  romanesque 
basilica  of  San  Rufino,  after  the  designs  of  John  of  Gubbio, 
and  when  it  was  completed  it  became  the  cathedral  of  the 
place,  replacing  the  very  old  church  by  the  Bishop's  palace  — 
Santa  Maria  del  Vescovado. 

And  in  this  church  of  San  Rufino  still  stands  the  roman- 
esque baptismal  font  in  which  the  first-born  of  Ser  Pietro  and 
Madonna  Pica  received  the  water  of  holy  baptism  one  day 
in  September,  1182  (it  is  said  to  have  been  the  26th). 

A  legend  which  is  not  older  than  the  fifteenth  century  says 
that  while  Madonna  Pica's  hour  with  Francis  was  come  the 
child  could  not  be  born.  Then  a  pilgrim  knocked  at  the 
door,  and,  when  it  was  opened,  said  that  the  child  would  not 
be  born  until  the  mother  left  the  beautiful  bedroom,  went 
into  the  stable,  and  there  lay  upon  straw  in  one  of  the  stalls. 
This  was  done,  and  hardly  was  the  change  effected  when  the 
heartrending  cries  of  the  mother  ceased,  and  she  bore  a  son, 
whose  first  cradle,  like  that  of  the  Saviour,  was  a  manger 
full  of  straw  in  a  stable. 

Bartholomew  of  Pisa,  who  wrote  in  the  end  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  who  in  his  work  Liber  Conformitatum 
goes  very  far  in  drawing  analogies  between  Jesus  Christ  and 
Saint  Francis,  knew  nothing  of  this  story;  yet  it  would  have 
exactly  suited  the  scope  of  his  book.  On  the  other  hand, 
Benozzo  Gozzoli  in  the  year  1452  painted  the  birth  in  the 

1UghelH:  Italia  sacra  (1717),  vol.  I,  col.  680;  A.  SS.,  12.  May:  Analecta 
Franciscana,  III  (Quaracchi,  1897),  p.  226,  n.  1. 


IO  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

stable  upon  the  walls  of  the  church  of  St.  Francis  in  Monte- 
falco,  and  Sedulius,  whose  Eistoria  Seraphica  appeared  in 
Antwerp  in  the  year  1613,  says  that  he  saw  the  stable  in 
Assisi  converted  into  a  chapel. 

Even  to-day  this  chapel  can  be  found  in  Assisi.  It  is 
called  S.  Francesco  il  piccolo  (St.  Francis  the  little),  and 
over  the  door  can  be  read  the  following  inscription: 

Hoc  oratorium  fuit  bovis  et  asini  stabulum 
In  quo  natus  est  Franciscus  mundi  speculum. 

"This  oratory  was  the  stable  of  ox  and  ass  in  which  Francis 
the  mirror  of  the  world  was  born." 

The  chapel  is  not  far  from  the  place  where  now  the  house 
of  the  father  of  St.  Francis  is  shown,  and  where  since  the 
seventeenth  century  the  chiesa  nuova  (new  church)  lifts  its 
barocque  walls.  The  Bollandists  have  propounded  the  the- 
ory that  the  chapel  may  be  a  part  of  Pietro  di  Bernardone's 
original  house,  which  the  family  later  moved  out  of  while 
Francis  was  still  a  child.  Perhaps  the  name  of  the  chapel, 
"Little  Francis,"  led  to  the  development  of  the  legend.1 

Of  the  same  legendary  quality  as  that  of  the  birth  in  the 
stable  is  another  tradition  that  is  first  given  by  Wadding. 
This  tells  us  that  the  same  pilgrim  who  had  given  the  good 
advice  about  the  flight  to  the  stable  was  also  in  the  church 
at  the  time  of  the  child's  baptism  immediately  after  the 
birth,  and  held  the  child  over  the  font.  There  is  still  shown 
in  San  Rufino's  church  a  stone  on  which  are  what  resemble 
footprints.  It  is  told  by  the  guide  who  shows  the  stone 
that  the  pilgrim  —  or  the  angel  in  guise  of  a  pilgrim  —  stood 
upon  this  stone  when  St.  Francis  was  baptized. 

The  seed  from  which  this  legend  has  sprung  is  undoubtedly 
a  tale,  which  still  exists  in  a  manuscript  of  the  so-called 
Legend  of  the  Three  Brothers. 

It  is  told  in  it  that  while  the  new-born  Francis  was  being 
baptized,  a  pilgrim  came  and  knocked  at  the  door  and  asked 
to  see  the  child.  The  maid  who  opened  the  door  naturally 
refused  this  request,  but  the  stranger  declared  that  he  would 
not  go  until  he  obtained  his  wish.     Ser  Pietro  was  not  at 

1  Acta  sanctorum,  Oct.  II.,  pp.  5S6-5S8- 


INFANCY     AND     YOUTH  II 

home,  and  they  told  the  lady  of  the  house  what  was  going 
on.  To  the  astonishment  of  all,  she  ordered  them  to  do  what 
the  pilgrim  asked.  The  child  was  taken  out,  and  as  soon  as 
the  stranger  saw  the  child  he  took  it  in  his  arms  just  as 
Simeon  had  taken  the  Divine  Infant,  and  said:  " To-day  there 
have  been  born  in  this  street  two  children,  and  one  of  them, 
namely  this  very  child,  shall  be  one  of  the  best  men  in  the 
world,  but  the  other  shall  be  one  of  the  worst."  1 

Bartholomew  of  Pisa  adds  that  the  pilgrim  made  the  sign 
of  a  cross  upon  the  right  shoulder  of  the  little  one,  warning  the 
nurse  to  look  well  after  the  child,  for  the  devil  strove  after  its 
life.  And  when  the  stranger  had  said  this,  he  disappeared 
before  the  eyes  of  all. 

In  baptism  the  son  of  Ser  Pietro  had  received  the  name  of 
John.  The  father  was  absent  on  a  journey  to  France  when 
the  child  was  born,  and  one  of  the  first  things  he  undertook 
after  his  return  was  to  change  his  first-born's  name  from 
John  to  Francis.  This  name  was  then  rare,  although  not 
entirely  new.  It  was  in  use  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  Assisi,  as  the  name  of  the  road  (via  Francesca)  which 
then  ran  along  the  west  side  of  the  town  from  S.  Salvatore 
degli  Pareti  (now  Casa  Gualdi)  and  ended  at  S.  Damiano. 
This  road  is  referred  to  by  name  in  a  bull  of  Pope  Innocent  III, 
published  May  26,  1198,  when  Francis  was  only  fifteen  years 
old,  and  not  yet  famous  enough  to  have  a  road  called  after 
him.  Many  surmises  have  been  made  as  to  why  Pietro  di 
Bernardone  changed  his  son's  name.  The  love  of  the  mer- 
chant just  returning  from  Provence  for  France  must  have 
been  a  principal  motive;  he  wished  his  son  to  be  a  real  French- 
man in  nature  and  ways.  A  certain  protest  against  the 
name-giving  by  the  woman  of  the  house  may  also  have 
played  its  part.  St.  Bonaventure  says  explicitly  that  the 
name  John  was  given  him  by  his  mother.  "I  wish  no  camel's- 
hair  John  the  Baptist,  but  a  Frenchman  with  fine  nature," 
is  what  the  father's  changing  of  the  name  may  be  thought 
to  have  meant. 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  I,  n.  2,  in  the  Vatican  MS.  7339,  published  in  Pesaro, 
1831.  Barth,  of  Pisa's  Conformitates  (Milano,  1513),  fol.  12V,  131*,  and  251:. 
Wadding,  I,  (Romae,  1731),  pp.  20-21. 


12  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

•  Others  hold  that  the  name  "the  Frenchman "  was  first 
bestowed  upon  the  youth  as  he  grew  up  because  of  his  skill 
in  the  French  language  —  a  skill  which  certainly  was  not 
very  great,  as  he  never  could  speak  the  language  perfectly. 

In  any  case,  the  youth  became  familiar  from  youth  with 
the  French  tongue.  He  also  learned  Latin;  this  part  of  his 
education  was  undertaken  by  priests  of  the  neighboring  church 
of  St.   George.1 

St.  Francis'  first  biographer,  Thomas  of  Celano,  gives  us  an 
unpleasant  picture  of  the  education  of  the  period.  He  tells 
us  that  children  were  scarcely  weaned  before  they  were 
taught  by  their  elders  to  both  say  and  do  improper  things, 
and  that  from  false  human  respect  no  one  dared  to  behave 
honorably.  And  from  so  bad  a  twig  no  good  and  healthy  tree 
naturally  could  spring.  A  wasted  childhood  was  followed  by 
a  riotous  youth.  Christianity  was  only  a  name  with  the 
young,  and  all  their  ambition  was  simply  in  the  direction  of 
seeming  worse  than  they  were.2 

Thomas  of  Celano  was  a  poet  and  a  rhetorician,  and  it  is 
not  easy  to  know  how  much  weight  should  be  attached  to 
his  assertions.  Perhaps  he  thought  of  the  conditions  in  his 
own  childhood's  home,  Celano  in  the  Abruzzi.  Of  the  other 
biographers,  only  Julian  of  Speier  has  anything  of  the  same 
sort  to  say,  and  he  copies  it  all  from  brother  Thomas. 

At  an  early  age,  in  accordance  with  a  custom  still  obtain- 
ing in  Italy,  Francis  began  to  assist  his  father  in  the  shop. 
He  soon  showed  himself  adapted  for  business  —  "even  more 
forward  than  his  forbears,"  Julian  of  Speier,  referred  to  above, 
says  of  him  in  this  respect.3  He  was  a  skilful  and  active 
business  man,  and  lacked  only  one  business  trait  —  but  this 
was  also  very  essential  —  he  was  not  economical,  rather  was 
v/  he  absolutely  wasteful. 

To  understand  the  cause  of  this  wastefulness  it  is  necessary 
to  take  a  look  at  the  period  in  which  the  young  merchant 
grew  up. 

1  St.  George's  church  was  situated  where  now  is  Santa  Chiara.  The  distance 
thence  to  the  new  church,  built  on  the  site  of  St.  Francis'  paternal  home,  is 
not  great. 

2  Vila  prima,  I,  cap.  I.  3  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  560. 


INFANCY     AND     YOUTH 


13 


It  was  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  and  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  —  in  other  words,  it  was  the  flowery  time  of  knight- 
hood and  chivalry.  Europe's  ideal  was  the  knight  and  the 
life  of  chivalry,  as  it  developed  in  the  courts  of  love  in  Pro- 
vence and  with  the  Norman  kings  in  Sicily.  In  Italy  the 
minor  courts  of  Este,  Verona,  and  Monteferrato  contended 
with  the  great  republics  of  Florence  and  Milan  to  see  who 
could  give  the  most  magnificent  tournaments  and  tilting 
matches.  The  most  celebrated  troubadours  of  France,  Ram- 
baud  de  Vaqueiras,  Pierre  Vidal,  Bernard  de  Ventadour,  Peirol 
d'Auvergne,  wandered  over  the  peninsula  on  endless  journeys 
from  court  to  court,  and  from  festival  to  festival.  Every- 
where were  to  be  heard  the  Chansons  de  Geste  of  Provence, 
fables  and  ballades,  everywhere  were  to  be  heard  songs  of 
King  Arthur  and  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table.  Even  in 
the  smallest  cities  the  courts  of  love  were  established,  de- 
voted to  the  "Gay  Science,"  la  gaya  scienza.1 

Pietro  di  Bernardone's  " French"  son  was,  as  it  were,  des- 
tined to  be  caught  in  this  movement.  He  was  not  like  his 
father  —  only  the  saving,  easily  contented  Italian,  to  whom 
it  was  enough  to  accumulate  money.  There  flowed  through 
his  veins  also  the  sparkling  blood  of  Provence  —  he  must 
have  enjoyment  by  means  of  his  money,  he  wanted  to  change 
gold  into  splendor  and  joy. 

Thus  Francis,  the  richest  young  man  of  the  place,  very 
naturally  became  what  in  our  days  would  be  called  the  leading 
society  man  of  the  town.  He  was  skilled  in  earning  money, 
but  very  frivolous  in  giving  it  away  again,  says  Thomas  of 
Celano.  No  wonder  that  he  soon  gathered  a  circle  of  friends 
about  him,  not  only  from  Assisi,  but  also  from  the  neighbor- 
ing villages;  we  even  find  him  seeking  a  friend  in  the  some- 
what distant  town  of  Gubbio.   - 

How  did  these  young  men  spend  their  time  when  they  were 
together?  Like  all  young  men  up  to  the  present  day  —  in 
taking  their  meals  together,  eating  well,  drinking  better,  and 
finally  in  high  spirits  going  through  the  streets  of  the  city 
arm  in  arm,  singing  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  and  disturbing 

1  Le  Monnier:  Histoire  de  St.  Francis,  Paris,  1891, 1,  pp.  11-16.  Paul  Saba- 
tier:  Vie  de  S.  Franqois  d 'Assise  (32c!  ed.,  Paris,  1905),  p.  10,  n.  2. 


14  SAINT    FRANCIS    OF    ASSISI 

the  slumbers  of  the  citizens.  The  austere  Friar  Minor  from 
Celano  enumerates  for  us  the  sins  of  these  wild  young  men  — 
they  joked,  he  says,  were  witty,  said  foolish  things,  and  wore 
soft,  effeminate  clothes. 

I  remember  a  day  in  May  a  few  years  ago,  a  day  in  May  in 
Subiaco  in  the  Sabine  hills.  I  had  visited  Sagro  Speco,  St. 
Benedict's  celebrated  hermitage  cave  and  St.  Scolastica's 
convent.  I  had  gone  into  an  inn  by  the  wayside  to  get  a 
light  meal,  until  I  could  take  the  train  back  to  Rome  via 
Mandela.  I  had  my  meal  served  in  a  pleasure  house  situated 
on  a  projecting  point  of  rock,  so  that  I  looked  down  between 
the  openings  of  a  screen  into  a  fig  orchard's  broad-leaved 
tops,  lighted  by  the  sun.  Over  the  fig  trees  I  had  a  view  into 
the  valley,  where  the  Anio  shining  like  silver  rushed  down 
between  blue-grey  cliffs,  and  far  away  the  village  of  Subiaco 
with  proud  towers  and  spires  lifted  itself  up  like  a  castle  on  a 
mountain  top. 

In  these  cheerful,  exalting,  and  sunny  surroundings  was  a 
company  of  youths  who  were  taking  their  dinner  in  the  same 
inn  with  me.  Out  in  an  open  veranda,  which  gave  a  most 
beautiful  view  in  among  the  wild  mountains,  they  had  had 
a  long  table  set  —  I  saw  the  bright  white  cloth,  the  mighty 
flasks,  the  glasses  with  the  red  wine,  and  the  waiters  who  ran 
back  and  forth  with  great  dishes  of  macaroni.  And  laughter 
and  song  arose,  but  never  became  ungoverned  riot,  and  they 
stood  up  in  their  places  and  made  speeches,  and  after  the 
speaking  there  was  a  little  cornet-playing. 

Such,  thought  I  to  myself,  were  the  festivals,  filled  with 
Italian  enjoyment  and  at  the  same  time  with  Italian  polite- 
ness, at  which  Pietro  di  Bernardone's  son  bore  the  sceptre 
as  rex,  as  king  of  the  festive  party,  king  for  a  day  and  an 
evening.  And  if  the  old  Franciscan  from  Celano  had  been 
familiar  with  the  wild  inspired  drinking  songs  of  the  youth 
of  the  north  or  with  the  "  Salamanderreiben "  of  the  Ger- 
man sons  of  the  Muse,  then  he  would  have  been  milder 
in  passing  judgment  on  these  festivals,  whose  delights  were 
as  mild  and  clear  as  the  yellow  wine  that  ripens  on  the 
Umbrian  hillsides. 

But  he  knew  them  not,  and  therefore  tells  us  that  Francis 


INFANCY     AND     YOUTH  15 

was  the  worst  of  all  the  brawling  youths  —  the  one  who  led 
and  misled  the  others.  The  " gilded  youth"  of  Assisi  went 
from  feast  to  feast,  and  at  night  they  could  be  heard  going 
through  the  streets,  singing  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  lute 
or  violin,  as  if  they  were  a  wandering  band  of  Troubadours 
or  " jongleurs."  Indeed  so  far  did  Francis  go  in  his  admira- 
tion for  the  "joyful  science"  of  Provence,  that  he  had  a 
parti-colored  minstrel's  suit  made  for  himself,  which  he  wore 
when  among  his  friends.1 

Even  at  this  early  time  Francis'  father  had  most  probably 
taken  his  son  as  associate  in  his  business;  at  any  rate,  the 
young  man  had  control  over  considerable  sums  of  money. 
Everything  that  he  earned  went  for  pleasure;  now  and  then 
the  father  could  hardly  withhold  the  remark:  "Anyone  would 
think  you  were  a  nobleman's  son,  and  not  the  son  of  a  simple 
merchant."  Yet  none  of  his  elders  cared  to  restrain  Francis 
in  the  life  he  led,  and  when  well-meaning  neighbors  com- 
plained to  Madonna  Pica  of  the  wild  son  she  had,  she  used 
only  to  answer:  "I  have  the  hope  that  he  too  some  day  will 
be  a  son  of  God." 

It  was  impossible  to  say  anything  really  bad  about  him. 
In  all  that  related  to  his  intercourse  with  the  other  sex  he 
was  a  model:  it  was  known  among  his  friends  that  no  one 
dared  say  an  evil  word  in  his  hearing.  If  it  happened,  at  once 
his  face  assumed  a  serious,  almost  harsh,  expression,  and  he 
did  not  answer.  Like  all  the  pure  of  heart,  Francis  had  great 
reverence  for  the  mysteries  of  life.2 

He  was,  on  the  whole,  decorous  in  his  life,  and  there  was 
only  one  thing  that  really  offended  his  family  —  it  was  that 
he  clung  so  to  his  friends  that,  as  he  sat  at  the  table  in  his 
home,  if  a  message  came  from  them,  he  would  jump  up, 
leave  his  meal,  and,  going  out,  would  not  return  to  finish 
his  repast. 

In  one  respect  he  was  worthy  of  admiration — this  was 
his  regard  for  the  poor.  His  extravagance  extended  even 
to  them;   he  was  not  one  of  those  typical  society  men  who 

1 '  In  curiositate  tantum  erat  vanus,  quod  aliquando  in  eodem  indumento 
pannum  valde  carum  panno  vilissimo  consui  faciebat."     Tres  Socii,  cap.  I,  n.  2. 
8  Tres  Socii,  cap.  I,  n.  3. 


16  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

hardly  have  a  penny  to  give  a  beggar,  but  willingly  spend 
their  hundreds  on  a  champagne  feast.  His  way  of  thinking 
was  the  following:  "If  I  am  generous,  yes,  even  extravagant 
with  my  friends  who  at  the  best  only  say  'thanks'  to  me  for 
them,  or  repay  me  with  another  invitation,  how  much  greater 
grounds  have  I  for  almsgiving  which  God  himself  has  prom- 
ised to  repay  a  hundredfold?"  This  was  the  inspiring  life- 
thought  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  here  carried  out  the 
genially  literal  and  genially  naive  translation  of  the  words  of 
the  gospel:  "As  long  as  you  did  it  to  one  of  these  my  least 
brethren,  you  did  it  to  me."  Francis  knew  —  as  the  whole 
Middle  Ages  knew  it  —  that  not  even  a  glass  of  cold  water, 
given  by  the  disciples,  would  remain  unpaid  and  unrewarded 
by  the  Master. 

Therefore  a  pang  went  through  his  heart  when,  one  day  as 
there  was  a  crowd  in  the  shop,  and  he  was  in  a  hurry  to  get 
through,  he  had  sent  a  beggar  away.  "If  this  man  had  come 
from  one  of  my  friends,"  said  he  to  himself,  "from  Count  this 
or  Baron  that,  he  would  have  got  what  he  asked  for.1  Now 
he  comes  from  the  King  of  kings  and  from  the  Lord  of  lords, 
and  I  let  him  go  away  empty-handed.  I  even  gave  him  a 
repelling  word."  And  he  determined  from  that  day  on  to 
give  to  every  one  who  asked  him  in  God's  name  —  per  amor 
di  Dio,  as  the  Italian  beggars  still  are  wont  to  say.2 

One  effect  of  his  kindness  to  the  poor  was,  perhaps,  this  — 
as  Bonaventure  tells  it.  One  of  the  original  characters  of 
the  village,  a  half-witted  or  entire  simpleton,  who  travelled 
around  the  streets  and  by-ways,  every  time  he  met  Francis, 
took  off  his  cloak  and  spread  it  out  on  the  ground,  and 
asked  the  young  man  to  step  upon  it.  Perhaps  it  was  the 
same  queer  fellow,  perhaps  another  of  the  wandering  weaklings 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  who  used  to  wander  through  the  streets 
of  Assisi,  calling  out  ceaselessly:  Pax  et  bonum!  ("Peace  and 
Good!")    After  Francis'  conversion  this  warning  voice  ceased, 

1  This  reflection  of  Francis  gives  us  a  new  little  insight  into  the  position 
the  young  man  held  in  his  circle  —  they  used  to  borrow  money  from  him. 

2  Two  of  his  biographers  —  the  Anonymous  of  Perugia  and  St.  Bonaven- 
ture —  assert  that  Francis  ran  after  the  beggar,  found  him  and  gave  him  the 
alms  he  had  denied  him  (.4.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  562.  Bonav.,  Leg.  Maj.,  cap.  I,  n.  1. 
Tres  Socii,  cap.  I,  n.  3.     Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  VII). 


INFANCY     AND     YOUTH  17 

which  is  treated  in  the  legend  as  a  kind  of  precursor  of  the 
great  saint's  coming.1 

Finally  Francis  was  endowed  with  a  vivid  feeling  for  nature. 
For  it  was  in  Provence  that  this  sentiment,  now  so  spontane- 
ous in  life  as  in  literature,  found,  a  century  later,  in  the  works 
of  Petrarch,  its  first  literary  expression  since  the  days  of 
antiquity.  But  already  in  the  half-Provencal  Francis  it  is 
found  fully  developed  —  "The  beauty  of  the  country,  the 
charm  of  the  vineyards,  all  that  was  pleasing  to  the  eye" 
rejoiced  him,  says  Thomas  of  Celano,2  and  we  will  not  go 
wrong  if  we  regard  this  feeling  as  a  part  of  Francis'  inheri- 
tance from  his  mother.  This  was  then  a  notable  element  of 
his  personality  and  was  temporarily  only  obscured  by  the 
spiritual  crisis  which  preceded  his  conversion.  As  all  good 
which  is  to  grow,  so  must  this  side  of  his  nature  be  pruned 
down  even  to  the  very  roots  —  but  only  to  bear  a  still  richer 
crown.  For  as  a  German  mystic  has  said:  "No  one  has  a 
true  love  for  created  things  unless  he  has  first  forsaken  it  for 
love  of  God,  so  that  it  has  been  dead  for  him  and  he  dead 
for  it." 

1  Bonav.,  cap.  I,  n.  2.     Tres  Socii,  VIII,  26. 

2  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  II. 


CHAPTER  III 
HISTORY  OF   THE  EPOCH 

FRANCIS  grew  up  in  warlike  times.  Emperor  was 
opposed  to  pope,  prince  to  king,  village  was  against 
village  and  burgher  against  noble.  Francis  was 
but  a  child  when  Frederick  Barbarossa  at  the  peace 
of  Constance  (June  25,  11 83-1 196)  had  to  grant  the  Lombardy 
States  all  the  privileges  which  they,  supported  by  the  power 
of  the  Papacy,  had  conquered  for  themselves  in  the  battle  of 
Legnano  (1176).  Barbarossa's  successor,  Henry  VI  (1183- 
1196),  meanwhile  made  the  imperial  power  firm  once  more 
in  Italy,  and  Assisi,  which  already  in  1174  had  been  taken 
by  the  German  Royal  Chancellor,  Archbishop  Christian  of 
Mayence,  but  which  in  1177  had  won  its  communal  freedom 
with  its  own  consuls,  had  to  waive  its  municipal  privileges, 
and  bow  down  under  the  imperial  Duke  of  Spoleto  and  Count 
of  Assisi,  Conrad  of  Irslingen. 

A  year  after  the  death  of  King  Henry,  Innocent  III  ascended 
the  Papal  throne,  and  this  powerful  Prince  of  the  Church 
immediately  took  the  affairs  of  the  Italian  states  into  his 
own  strong  hand.  Duke  Conrad  had  to  go  to  Narni  and 
submit  himself  to  the  Pope,  and  his  absence  was  at  once 
utilized  by  the  citizens  for  an  assault  by  storm  on  the  "Zwing- 
burg"  (Guarding  Castle),  which,  threatening  the  city,  was 
enthroned  on  the  top  of  Santo  Rosso.  The  castle  was  taken 
and  so  thoroughly  laid  waste  that,  when  the  Papal  emissary 
came  to  take  possession  of  it,  as  property  of  Peter,  there  was 
only  a  ruin  left,  the  same  which  still  looks  down  upon  Assisi. 
And  to  be  prepared  to  take  the  consequences  of  this  daring 
act,  the  citizens  determined  to  erect  a  wall  around  their  city; 
with  spirit  all  went  to  work,  and  in  the  course  of  an  incredibly 
short  time  the  people  of  Assisi  built  the  city  wall  with  towers, 
which  even  to-day  has  an  imposing  effect  upon  the  visitor. 

18 


HISTORY    OF     THE     EPOCH  19 

At  this  time  Francis  was  about  seventeen  years  old,  and,  as 
Sabatier  says,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  on  this 
occasion  he  acquired  that  ability  in  handling  stone  and  mortar 
which  later  stood  him  in  good  stead  at  San  Damiano  and 
Portiuncula. 

Naturally  the  greatest  part  of  the  work,  both  of  tearing 
down  and  building  up,  was  done  by  the  lower  people  — 
minores,  as  it  was  the  universal  custom  to  call  them.  The 
common  people  thus  realized  their  power,  and  after  overcom- 
ing the  foreign  foe,  the  tyrannical  German,  they  turned  their 
attention  to  the  foe  at  home,  the  minor  tyrants,  the  noble 
lords,  whose  fortified  residences  —  as  later  the  Steens  in  the 
Flemish  cities — stood  here  and  there  in  the  village.  A  real  civil 
war  broke  out;  the  nobles'  houses  were  besieged,  many  of  them 
were  burned,  and  the  fall  of  the  nobility  seemed  inevitable. 

Then  the  nobles  of  Assisi  turned  in  their  need  to  Assisi's 
former  enemy  —  the  neighboring  and  powerful  Perugia. 
Ambassadors  from  Assisi's  nobility  promised  to  recognize 
Perugia's  supremacy  over  the  city  whenever  she  could  come 
to  their  assistance. 

The  republic  of  Perugia  then  stood  at  the  summit  of  its 
power  and  greatness  and  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  to 
reduce  Assisi  to  subjection.  Its  army  advanced  into  the  field 
to  the  relief  of  the  besieged  nobility.  The  citizens  of  Assisi 
did  not  lose  courage;  together  with  such  of  the  nobility  as 
had  remained  true  to  their  ancestral  city,  they  met  the  troops 
of  Perugia  at  the  bridge  of  San  Giovanni,  on  the  plain  between 
the  two  cities.  Victory  fell  to  the  Perugians  and  a  quantity 
of  the  combatants  of  Assisi  were  taken  prisoners  —  among 
them  also  Francis.  On  account  of  his  noble  appearance  the 
young  merchant's  son  was  not  put  in  prison  with  the  rest  of 
the  citizens,  but,  just  as  the  laws  of  many  old  French  cities 
provide  for  les  bourgeois  honorables,  he  received  permission  to 
share  the  lot  of  the  nobility.1 

The  defeat  at  Ponte  San  Giovanni  took  place  in  the  year 

1  Cristofani:  Storie  d' Assisi,  I,  Assisi,  1875,  PP-  83-96;  Le  Monnier:  Histoire 
deSt.  Francois  d' Assise,!,  pp.  24-26;  P.  Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Francois  d' Assise, 
pp.  12-15.  —  The  place  where  the  battle  between  the  two  cities  was  fought  is 
given  in  Vita  B.  Columbae  Reatinae  {A.  SS.,  May  20),  where  it  is  told  howCo- 
lumba  with  her  father  and  others  accompanying  her  were  captured  by  ruffians 


20  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

1202,  the  imprisonment  in  Perugia  lasted  a  year,  and,  during 
it,  Francis  astounded  his  fellow-prisoners  by  his  constant 
cheerfulness.  Although  there  seemed  little  reason  to  be  con- 
tented he  was  always  to  be  heard  singing  and  joking,  and  when 
the  others  peevishly  or  angrily  rebuked  him,  he  answered  only: 
"Do  you  not  know  that  a  great  future  awaits  me,  and  that  all 
the  world  shall  then  fall  down  and  pray  to  me?"  This  is 
the  first  expression  of  his  firm  conviction  of  his  future,  the 
definite  certainty  that  a  great  future  belonged  to  him,  which 
is  so  remarkable  in  St.  Francis  in  these  years  of  his  youth. 

In  November,  1203  peace  was  declared  between  the  two 
contending  powers.  The  conditions  were  that  the  citizens  of 
Assisi  should  repair  the  damage  they  had  done  to  the  prop- 
erty of  the  nobles,  and  that  the  nobles  should  on  their  part 
not  be  free  to  enter  into  any  alliance  without  permission  of 
the  city.  Francis  was  now  liberated  with  the  other  prisoners, 
among  whom  he  who  had  formerly  been  an  apostle  of  happiness 
now  assumed  the  role  of  peacemaker.  For  there  was  among 
the  prisoner-warriors  one  who,  on  account  of  his  pride  and 
unreasonableness,  was  very  unpopular  with  all.  Instead  of 
avoiding  this  difficult  character,  Francis  undertook  to  be  in 
his  company,  and  went  so  far  in  this  direction,  during  the 
time  of  captivity,  that  the  ill-humored  unreasonable  prisoner 
changed,  and  was  received  into  the  circle  of  his  companions, 
whence  he  had  exiled  himself. 

The  long  intercourse  with  the  noble  prisoners  seems  to  have 
affected  the  young  merchant's  heart  with  a  greater  attachment 
to  the  ways  of  life  of  the  nobility  than  ever,  which  in  the  years 
following  the  imprisonment  (1 203-1 206)  became  very  evident 
in  him.  It  was  now  that  he  became  a  disciple  of  the  "gay 
science"  of  Provence;  it  was  now  that  he  submerged  himself 
in  the  whirl  of  festivities  and  enjoyments,  out  of  which  his 
sickness,  which  in  his  twenty-third  year  brought  him  so  near 
to  the  portals  of  death,  was  first  to  rescue  him  —  and  even  at 
that  not  too  securely. 

on  the  bridge  of  S.  Giovanni.  The  author  of  the  biography  adds  to  the 
above:  "Memini,  me  legisse,  hoc  eodem  loco,  B.  Franciscum,  tunc  juvenem, 
cum  pluribus  sodalibus  careen  mancipatum  "  (ditto,  n.  74).  —  The  bridge  of 
S.  Giovanni  crosses  the  Tiber  a  little  north  of  Perugia. 


CHAPTER  IV 
FRANCIS  BECOMES  A   SOLDIER 

FOR  even  now  he  was  a  long  way  from  conversion. 
He  had  realized  his  soul's  barrenness,  but  he  had 
found  nothing  with  which  to  fill  it.  As  his  con- 
valescence progressed  and  his  strength  returned, 
in  such  measure  did  he  return  to  his  worldly  life,  and 
trod  again  the  same  paths  as  before  his  sickness.  The  only 
difference  was  that  he  had  no  enjoyment  now  in  the  life 
he  led.  There  was  a  sort  of  unrest  in  him,  that  gave  him  no 
peace ;  there  was  a  thorn  in  his  soul  that  ceaselessly  irritated 
him.  More  than  ever  he  dreamed  of  great  deeds,  of  strange 
adventures  and  of  achievements  in  strange  and  distant 
lands. 

And  again  the  life  of  chivalry  presented  itself  to  him  as  the 
only  one  which  would  assuage  his  soul's  indefinable  longing 
to  attain  the  highest.  From  his  youth  he  had  been  intimate 
with  the  romances  of  King  Arthur  and  the  Knights  of  the 
Round  Table.  He  too  would  be  a  Knight  of  the  Holy  Grail, 
he  too  would  go  out  into  the  world,  offer  his  blood  for  the 
cause  of  the  Greatest  and  Highest,  and  —  for  this  was  not 
excluded  from  his  thoughts  —  he  could  return  home  crowned 
with  undying  laurels. 

Just  at  this  time  the  Middle-Ages'  long-standing  dispute 
between  emperor  and  pope  had  entered  on  a  new  phase. 
Henry  VI's  widow  had  invoked  the  guardianship  of  Innocent 
III  for  the  heir  to  the  throne,  afterwards  the  Emperor  Frede- 
rick II.  One  of  the  oldest  of  the  Emperor's  generals,  named 
Markwald,  made  the  claim  that  it  was  he  who,  in  virtue  of  the 
will,  should  properly  be  regent  for  king  and  kingdom.1    But 

1  "B  alius  regius  et  regni,"  Vita  Innocentii  III,  quoted  by  Le  Monnier,  I, 
p.  34,  n.  I. 

21 


22  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Innocent  had  no  idea  of  giving  up  what  he  had  undertaken, 
and  was  prepared  to  defend  his  cause  with  arms.  The  war 
was  carried  on  in  Southern  Italy,  because  the  widow-queen, 
Constance,  being  heir  to  the  Norman  kings,  was  also  queen  of 
Sicily.  Innocent  suffered  for  a  long  time  one  defeat  after 
another,  until  he  entrusted  his  army  to  Duke  Walter  III  of 
Brienne,  who  in  the  name  of  his  Norman  wife,  Albinia,  laid 
claim  to  Tarentum.  This  illustrious  leader  overcame  the 
Germans  in  a  series  of  defeats  —  at  Capua,  at  Lecce,  at 
B arietta  —  and  his  fame  spread  over  all  Italy,  and  inspired 
all  the  land.  The  Germans  were  hated  everywhere;  in 
Sicily  the  word  "German"  signified  coarse,  impolite,  unjust. 
The  French  troubadour,  Pierre  Vidal,  wandered  through 
Lombardy  and  sang  sarcastic  songs  about  the  Germans  — 
"I  would  not  be  a  nobleman  in  Friesland,"  he  sang,  "if  I  had 
to  hear  the  language  they  speak  there;  it  sounds  like  geese, 
not  like  the  language  of  men."1  All  that  was  young,  proud 
and  noble  in  Italy  rose  against  the  foreign  dominion,  and 
Walter  of  Brienne's  name  seemed  to  wave  over  inspired  ranks 
like  a  banner  blessed  by  the  Pope. 

The  national  inspiration  reached  even  Assisi;  one  of  the 
nobles  of  the  place  armed  himself  to  go  with  a  little  troop  to 
the  aid  of  Walter's  army  in  Apulia.2  As  soon  as  Francis 
heard  this,  a  feverish  longing  took  possession  of  him.  Here 
was  the  chance  he  so  long  had  wished  for,  here  was  the 
moment  which  must  not  be  allowed  to  escape;  now  or  never 
was  the  time  —  the  nobleman  from  Assisi  should  take  Francis 
with  him  in  his  troop,  and  Duke  Walter  should  knight  him! 

With  all  his  zeal  Francis  pondered  over  the  means  of  carry- 
ing this  plan  into  effect.  He  was  seized  by  wild  joy,  such  as 
one  feels  when  preparing  for  a  new  and,  as  one  may  hope,  an 
entrancing  epoch  of  life.  A  sort  of  "wanderlust"  mastered 
him;  he  ran  rather  than  walked  through  the  streets.  His 
friends  found  that  his  usual  good  humor  had  risen  to  an 
excessive  height,  and  asked  him  the  reason  therefor,  when  he 

1  Le  Monnier,  p.  35,  n.  1. 

2  The  biographers  of  Francis  did  not  know  the  name  of  Walter  of  Brienne; 
they  allude  to  him  only  vaguely  under  the  title  gentilis  (Tres  Socii)  or  liber  alls 
(Bonaventure).  In  June,  1205  Walter  fell  at  the  siege  of  Sarno,  but  his  army 
prosecuted  the  contest. 


FRANCIS     BECOMES     A     SOLDIER  23 

would  answer  with  glittering  eyes:  "  I  know  that  I  am  now 
going  to  be  a  great  prince."1 

It  goes  without  saying  that  nothing  was  spared  in  equipping 
the  young  merchant's  son  for  war.  One  of  his  biographers 
says  that  all  of  his  clothes  were  "individual  and  costly."2 
This  was  what  was  to  be  expected  in  the  extravagant  and 
luxurious  rich  young  man.  But  what  is  also  completely 
characteristic  of  him  is  that  when,  just  before  starting,  he  met 
one  of  his  fellow-travellers,  a  nobleman,  and  saw  that  he  on 
account  of  his  poverty  could  not  clothe  and  arm  himself 
properly,  Francis  gave  all  his  costly  equipment  to  him,  and 
took  the  nobleman's  poor  things  in  exchange. 

Engrossed  as  he  was  in  the  new  life,  he  naturally  dreamt 
every  night  of  war  and  weapons.  The  very  night  after  he 
had  been  so  generous  to  the  poor  knight,  such  a  dream  came 
to  him,  and  it  seemed  to  him  more  pregnant  with  meaning 
than  any  of  the  others.  It  seemed  to  him  that  he  —  perhaps 
to  bid  farewell  —  stood  in  his  father's  shop.  But  instead  of 
the  rolls  of  goods  which  usually  filled  the  shelves  from  floor 
to  ceiling,  he  saw  now  on  all  sides  shining  shields,  bright 
spears,  shining  armor.  And  as  he  wondered  he  heard  a  voice 
which  said:  "All  this  shall  belong  to  you  and  to  your 
warriors."  3 

It  was  only  natural  that  Francis  should  take  this  dream  for 
a  good  omen.  And  one  bright  morning  he  sprang  upon  his 
horse  to  go  with  the  rest  of  the  little  troop  to  Apulia.  Their 
road  led  them  through  the  present  Porta  Nuova  to  Foligno 
and  from  Foligno  to  Spoleto.  Here  they  approached  the 
Flaminian  Way  —  the  road  to  Rome  and  south  Italy.  And 
here  Francis  had  nearly  reached  the  goal  of  his  warlike 
journey. 

1  "Scio  me  magnum  principem  affuturum"  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  II,  n.  5).  In  the 
same  strain  in  the  prison  in  Perugia:  "  Adhuc  adorabor  pertotum  mundum"  (Tr. 
Soc,  II,  4,  and  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  I,  1). 

2"curiosa  et  cara"  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  II,  n.  6). 

3  The  dream  is  thus  told  by  Thomas  of  Celano  (Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  II)  and 
Julian  of  Speier  (A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  564).  In  the  Tres  Socii  (cap.  II,  n.  5)  the 
locality  is  no  longer  his  home  but  is  a  palace,  as  also  in  Thomas  of  Celano's 
second  Biography  (I,  2)  and  in  St.  Bona  venture  (I,  3),  and  the  apparition  is 
otherwise  enlarged  upon  (the  weapons  are  marked  with  crosses,  a  beautiful 
bride  awaits  Francis  in  the  palace  hall,  etc.). 


24  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

For  the  same  hand  which  had  formerly  cast  him  upon  a 
sick-bed  to  bring  him  to  reflection  and  realization,  again 
grasped  him  in  Spoleto.  An  attack  of  fever  forced  him  to  take 
to  his  bed,  and  as  he  lay  there  between  sleeping  and  waking,  it 
happened  that  he  heard  a  voice  asking  him  where  he  wanted 
to  go.  "To  Apulia  to  be  a  knight,"  was  the  invalid's  answer. 
"Tell  me,  Francis,  who  can  benefit  you  most:  the  Lord  or  the 
servant?"  "The  Lord,"  answered  Francis  in  astonishment. 
"Then  why  do  you  desert  the  Lord,"  repeated  the  voice, 
"for  the  servant,  and  the  Prince  for  his  vassal?" 

Then  Francis  knew  who  it  was  who  spoke  to  him,  and  in  the 
words  of  Paul  cried  out:  "Lord,  what  do  you  wish  me  to  do?" 

But  the  voice  answered:  "Go  back  to  your  home;  there  it 
shall  be  told  you  what  you  are  to  do.  For  the  vision  you  saw 
must  be  understood  in  another  way!" 

The  voice  ceased  and  Francis  awoke.  The  rest  of  the  night 
he  lay  awake.  But  when  morning  came  he  silently  arose, 
saddled  his  horse  and  rode  back  to  Assisi  in  all  his  warlike 
equipment,  which  now  suddenly  seemed  to  him  so  vain.1 

We  do  not  know  what  reception  awaited  him  at  home,  but 
we  can  imagine  it.  This,  like  all  his  other  eccentricities,  was 
undoubtedly  soon  forgiven  him,  and  for  a  good  while  he  was 
again  the  centre  of  his  friends'  joyous  circle.  Soon  the  old 
life  with  feasting  and  enjoyment  was  in  full  swing;  again  was 
Francis  the  one  who  in  spite  of  all  had  to  be  acknowledged 
as  the  leader  of  his  circle  of  young  men  — flos  Juvenum.2 
If  his  futile  trip  towards  Apulia  was  referred  to,  he  replied 
very  definitely  that  he  certainly  had  given  it  up,  but  only 
to  do  great  things  in  his  own  land.3 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  II,  n.  5,  and  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  I,  2.  Thomas  of 
Celano  in  his  first  life  of  St.  Francis  knew  nothing  of  this  second  dream,  he  only- 
says :  "immutatus  .  .  .  mente  ...  ire  in  Apuliam  se  recusat";  first  through 
the  Tres  Socii  he  learned  about  the  strange  motive  for  so  unexpected  a  determi- 
nation. 

For  the  connection  between  the  two  biographers  of  Francis  and  the  Tres 
Socii  legend,  consult  the  appendix.  One  of  the  biographers  would  have 
us  believe  that,  as  Francis  on  his  return  home  passed  through  Foligno,  he 
sold  horse  and  arms  there  and  bought  himself  other  clothes.  (Anonymus 
Perusinus  in  Acta  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  565.) 

2  Wadding  (Annates,  vol.  I,  p.  23). 

3  Julian  of  Speier  (A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  566,  n.  109).  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I, 
cap.  III.    Tres  Socii,  cap.  V,  n.  13. 


FRANCIS     BECOMES     A     SOLDIER  25 

He  really  had  less  confidence  than  he  assumed.  Opposing 
emotions  contended  in  his  soul  —  now  he  listened  to  the  voice 
of  the  world  only,  now  he  longed  to  serve  the  Lord  whose 
inspiring  voice  had  spoken  so  pleadingly  to  him  that  night  in 
Spoleto.  Stronger  and  stronger  the  feeling  arose  in  him  to 
withdraw  from  all  and  in  loneliness  to  become  sure  of  his 
calling.  But  if  he  sought  his  friends  no  more  they  sought  him, 
and,  to  avoid  all  appearance  of  parsimony,  he  was  the  same 
luxurious  host  as  before. 

And  thus  it  happened  that  one  evening  —  it  was  in  the 
summer  of  1205  —  invitations  were  sent  out  in  his  usual  way 
for  a  festival  which  was  to  be  richer  and  more  sumptuous  than 
ever.  He  was  to  be  the  king  of  the  feast,  and,  when  the  table 
was  cleared,  all  joined  in  overwhelming  him  with  praise  and 
thanks.  After  the  dinner  the  company  as  usual  went  singing 
through  the  streets,  but  Francis,  who  kept  a  little  behind  the 
others,  did  not  sing.  Little  by  little  he  dropped  behind  his 
friends;  soon  he  was  alone  in  the  quiet  night  in  some  one  of 
Assisi's  small  steep  streets,  or  in  one  of  its  small  open  squares, 
from  which  one  looks  out  so  far  over  the  lansdcape. 

And  there  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Lord  again  visited  him. 
The  heart  of  Francis,  which  was  weary  of  the  world  and  of  its 
vanities,  was  filled  with  such  a  sweetness  that  there  was  room 
for  no  other  feeling.  He  lost  all  consciousness  of  himself, 
and  if  he  had  been  cut  to  pieces  limb  by  limb — as  he  himself 
later  told  of  it  —  he  would  not  have  known  of  it,  would  never 
have  tried  by  a  movement  to  escape  it. 

How  long  he  stood  there,  overcome  by  the  heavenly  sweet- 
ness, he  never  knew.  He  first  came  back  to  himself  when 
one  of  his  friends,  who  had  gone  back  in  search  of  him,  called 
out: 

" Hello,  Francis,  are  you  thinking  of  your  honeymoon?" 

And  looking  up  to  heaven  where  the  stars  were  shining, 
then  as  now  in  the  serene  August  night,  the  young  man 
answered : 

"  Yes,  I  am  thinking  of  marrying!  But  the  bride  I  am  going 
to  woo  is  nobler,  richer  and  fairer  than  any  woman  you  know." 

Then  his  friends  laughed — for  a  number  had  approached — 
and  the  wine  had  made  them  loquacious.     "Then  the  tailor 


26  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

will  again  have  a  job,  just  as  when  you  started  to  Apulia," 
we  may  think  some  of  them  said  with  a  sneer. 

Francis  heard  their  laughter  and  was  angry,  but  not  with 
them.  For  in  sudden  light  the  whole  of  his  former  life  was 
before  him,  in  its  folly,  its  lack  of  object,  its  childish  vanity. 
He  saw  himself  in  all  his  pitiful  reality  —  and  in  front  of  him 
stood  in  shining  beauty  the  life  he  hitherto  had  not  led  —  the 
true  life,  the  just  life,  the  beautiful,  noble,  rich  life  —  life  in 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  this  aspect  Francis  could  be  angry  at  no  one  but  himself, 
and  therefore  the  old  legend  says  also  that  from  that  hour 
he  began  to  value  himself  little.1 

1  "ab  ilia  hora  coepit  sibi  vilescere."  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  Ill,  whence  the  above 
particulars  are  essentially  taken.    Compare  Celano,  Vita  sec.,  I,  3.) 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  CONVERSION 

AN  author  of  the  fifteenth  century,  St.  Antonin  of 
Florence  (1389-1459)  in  his  Chronicles  of  the 
Church  has  put  the  summary  of  Francis'  activities 
in  the  first  year  which  followed  his  parting  from 
his  friends  and  the  joyous  life  into  two  lines:  "He  now 
kept  in  hiding  in  hermit  caves,  and  now  piously  built  up 
ruined  churches."  l  Solitary  prayer  and  personal  work  for 
the  kingdom  of  God  were  the  two  means  by  which  the  rich 
man's  son,  young,  spoiled  and  worldly,  sought  to  ascertain 
the  will  of  God  as  applied  to  his  own  case. 

A  little  way  outside  of  the  city  there  was  a  cave  in  the  cliff, 
where  he  liked  to  go  to  pray,  sometimes  alone,  but  oftener 
with  one  of  his  friends  —  the  only  one  who  seems  to  have 
remained  true  to  him  after  his  change  of  mind.  None  of  his 
biographers  has  preserved  for  us  this  man's  name  —  Thomas 
of  Celano  only  says  that  he  was  a  distinguished  person.2 

Francis  had  by  nature  a  strong  inclination  to  speak  of  his 
experiences.  His  biographers  say  of  him,  that  even  against 
his  will  he  would  speak  of  things  which  occupied  him.3  It  is 
no  wonder  that  he  confided  in  a  friend,  and  in  the  metaphor  of 
the  Bible  told  of  the  costly  treasure  which  he  had  found  in  the 
cave  outside  the  city,  and  which  only  needed  to  be  dug  out  of 
the  soil.     But  he  had  to  be  alone  to  raise  the  treasure  — 

1  nunc  latebat  in  eremis,  nunc  ecclesiarum  reparationibus  insistebat  devotus. 
(S.  Ant.  Chronicon,  pars  III,  tit.  24,  cap.  7.) 

2  "magnus  inter  ceteros"  (Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  III).  Sabatier  (Vie,  pp.  22-23) 
would  identify  this  associate  of  the  earliest  times  with  Elias  of  Cortona.  This 
is  not  very  logical.  Elias,  who,  according  to  Salimbene  (Chron.,  ed.  Parm.,  p. 
402),  was  by  profession  a  saddlemaker  and  school-teacher,  hardly  belonged  to 
Francis'  circle  of  acquaintances,  much  less  could  be  called  "  magnus  inter  ceteros." 

3  "Jam  se  continere  non  valens,  quaedam  etiam  nolens  in  publicum  verbo- 
tenus  depromeret"  (Julian  of  Speier  in  Anal.  Boll.,  t.  XXI,  p.  163). 

27 


28  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

therefore  he  left  his  friend  outside  while  he  went  in  by 
himself. 

And  there  apart,  in  the  dark  cave,  Francis  found  the  secret 
chamber  where  he  could  pray  to  his  Heavenly  Father.  Day  by 
day  the  desire  to  do  the  will  of  God  increased  until  he  had 
no  peace,  until  he  had  clearly  determined  what  it  was  that 
God  asked  of  him.  Again  and  again  were  the  words  of  the 
psalmist  on  his  lips,  the  words  which  are  the  foundation  of 
all  true  worship  of  God:  "Shew,  0  Lord,  thy  ways  to  me,  and 
teach  me  thy  paths"  (Ps.  xxiv.  4).    - 

And  against  this  pure  ideal  his  past  life  stood  out  dark 
and  repulsive.  With  increasing  bitterness  he  thought  of  his 
past  youth,  and  it  delighted  him  no  longer  to  think  over  its 
delights  and  extravagances.  But  what  was  to  be  done  not 
to  fall  back  again? — had  he  not  time  and  again  been  warned, 
and  had  he  not  time  and  again  despised  the  warning  and 
again  followed  his  inclinations?  When  friends  again  called 
on  him,  when  the  wine  once  more  seduced  him,  when  the  smell 
of  the  feasts  again  reached  him,  and  the  sounds  of  violin  and 
lute  rang  in  his  ears  —  would  he  then  have  power  to  resist, 
would  he  not  as  before  immerse  himself  in  the  glad  world  of 
festivity  and  drinking,  which  hovered  like  a  golden  heaven 
over  the  dark  everyday  world? 

Francis  did  not  depend  upon  himself,  and  God  seemed 
unwilling  to  give  him  the  desired  word  of  help  which  he 
asked  for.  In  agony  of  mind  and  desolation  of  soul,  Francis 
fought  the  battle  of  his  salvation  in  the  loneliness  and  darkness 
of  the  cave,  and  when  he  finally,  torn  and  tortured,  again 
appeared  in  the  light  of  day,  his  friends  hardly  recognized 
him,  his  face  seemed  so  haggard.1 

Thus  Francis  became  a  man  of  prayer.  He  had  begun 
to  taste  the  sweetness  of  prayer  and  prayed  continually.  It 
often  happened  that,  as  he  would  be  going  through  the  streets 
or  about  his  home,  he  would  stop  everything  to  go  off  into  a 
church  to  pray.2 

Francis'  father  seems  to  have  been  away  from  home  a  great 

1  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  III.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  I,  cap.  V. 

2  "ipsum  ad  orationem  de  platea  et  aliis  locis  impellabat"  (Tres  Socii,  cap. 
Ill,  n.  8). 


THE     CONVERSION 


29 


deal  during  this  period  of  change  in  his  son's  nature.  The 
mother,  who,  according  to  the  authorities,  loved  Francis  more 
than  her  other  children,  let  him  do  just  what  he  wished.  In 
one  sense  he  led  the  same  life  as  before — only  that  the  poor 
had  taken  the  place  of  his  friends.  It  was  they  he  sought,  it 
was  to  them  he  gave  feasts.  One  day  when  his  mother  and  he 
were  to  sit  at  table  together,  he  laid  out  such  a  quantity  of 
bread  that  there  was  enough  for  a  large  family.  When  his 
mother  asked  the  reason  for  such  profusion,  he  answered  that 
he  had  intended  it  all  for  the  poor.  If  he  met  a  beggar  in  the 
street  who  asked  for  alms,  he  gave  him  all  the  money  he  had 
with  him.  But  if  his  money  was  all  gone,  he  would  give 
him  his  hat  or  his  belt;  sometimes  when  he  had  nothing  else, 
he  would  take  the  poor  man  with  him  to  a  secluded  place, 
take  off  his  shirt  and  give  it  to  him.1  He 
also  began  to  think  about  poor  priests 
and  poor  churches;  he  bought  church 
goods  and  sent  them  secretly  to  places 
where  they  were  wanting.  This  is  the 
first  indication  we  have  of  Francis'  vivid 
interest,  manifest  in  his  after  life  for 
everything    relating    to    churches,    and 

which,   among    Others,    found    expression    Design  in  Host  Mould;  in 

in  his  sending  "to  all  provinces  good  and       Convent  at  Grecao 
fine  irons  to  make  fine  and  white  altar-bread  with." 2 

But  first  of  all  the  poor  were  in  his  thoughts.  To  see  them, 
to  hear  their  troubles,  to  help  them  in  their  necessities  — 
these  were  hereafter  his  principal  concerns.  And  little  by 
little  the  desire  was  firmly  established  within  his  heart:  "If 
I  could  only  find  by  personal  experience  how  it  felt  to  be  poor 
—  how  it  is  to  be,  not  one  of  those  who  go  by  and  throw  down 
a  shilling,  but  to  be  the  one  who -stands  in  rags  and  dirt,  and 
humbly  bowing,  stretches  out  his  faded  hat  for  alms!"  Many 
a  time,  we  may  think,  he  stood  among  the  beggars  at  some 
church  door  —  stood  among  them  while  they  pitifully  asked 
for  a  mite.  But  it  was  not  like  him  to  do  only  this.  He 
himself  must  do  the  begging  in  order  to  understand  poverty, 
and  this  could  not  be  done  in  Assisi  where  every  one  knew  him. 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  Ill,  nn.  8-9.     2  Speculum  perfectionis,  ed.  Sab.,  cap.  LXV. 


30  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

It  was  this  which  inspired  him  with  the  idea  of  going  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome.  There  in  the  great  city  no  one  knew 
him,  there  he  could  put  his  plan  into  execution. 

Perhaps  there  were  some  particular  circumstances  which 
brought  near  to  him  this  idea  of  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Apostle's 
grave.  From  September  14,  1204,  until  March  25,  1206, 
and  again  from  April  4  until  May  n,  1206,  Innocent  III 
had  transferred  the  Papal  residence  to  the  bishopric  of 
St.  Peter.1  So  long  a  stay  by  the  unhealthy  waters  of  the 
Tiber  may  have  had  some  connection  with  special  church- 
functions  in  St.  Peter's  —  perhaps  the  granting  of  some  in- 
dulgence. The  Bishop  of  Assisi  at  this  time  was  also  going 
on  a  journey  to  Rome.2 

However  all  this  may  be,  Francis  went  to  Rome.  We 
know  only  a  little  of  his  first  visit  to  the  Eternal  City.  He 
approached  by  the  Flaminian  Way  and  apparently  at  once 
went  to  St.  Peter's.  Here  he  met  many  other  pilgrims  and  saw 
that  they  —  as  was  the  custom  in  the  Middle  Ages  —  threw 
coins  as  offerings  through  the  fenestrella  or  grated  window 
of  the  Apostle's  tomb.  The  majority  of  the  gifts  were  only 
small  pieces.  Francis  stood  a  while  and  watched  — then  the 
last  sign  of  his  old  desire  to  show  off  appeared,  he  pulled  out 
his  well-filled  purse  and  threw  a  whole  handful  of  coins  in 
through  the  grating,  so  that  the  money  flew  about  and  rang  as 
it  fell,  and  all  the  people  were  astonished  and  looked  at  him. 

The  next  minute  Francis  had  left  the  church  and  called  one 
of  the  beggars  aside,  and  a  moment  after  he  had  at  last  fulfilled 
the  purpose  of  the  whole  journey  —  as  a  real  beggar  clothed 
in  real  rags  he  stood  among  the  other  beggars  on  the  steps 
which  led  up  to  the  church.3  Of  his  sensations  at  this 
moment  we  know  enough  when  we  read  in  one  of  his  biog- 
raphers that  he  begged  in  French,  "which  he  liked  to  talk, 
although  he  never  could  do  it  perfectly."  For  him  French 
was  the  language  of  poetry,  the  language  of  religion,  the 
language  of  his  happiest  memories  and  of  his  most  solemn 

1  Potthast:  Regesta,  nn.  2280-2727  and  2736-2778. 

2Ughelli:  Italia  sacra,  I,  col.  419. 

J  "in  gradibus  ecclesiae"  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  Ill,  n.  10)  "in  paradiso  ante  eccle- 
siam  Sancti  Petri,"  says  Thomas  of  Celano  (Vita  sec,  I,  4),  using  for  the  area 
in  front  of  the  church  the  technical  expression  "the  paradise." 


THE     CONVERSION 


31 


hours,  the  language  he  spoke  when  his  heart  was  too 
full  to  find  expression  in  everyday  Italian,  and  therefore  his 
soul's  mother-speech.  When  Francis  talked  French,  those 
who  knew  him  knew  that  he  was  happy. 

How  long  Francis  stayed  in  Rome  is  unknown  to  us.  He 
may  have  started  back  the  day  after  his  arrival.  The  authori- 
ties only  say  that  after  he  had  shared  the  beggars'  meal  he 
took  off  the  borrowed  clothes,  put  on  his  own  and  went  home 
to  Assisi.  He  had  now  had  the  great  experience  of  what  it 
was  to  be  poor  —  he  had  worn  rags  and  eaten  the  bread 
of  necessity  —  and  although  it  must  have  been  a  happiness 
to  be  in  his  own  good  clothes  again,  and  to  sit  at  home  at  his 
mother's  profuse  table,  yet  he  also  felt  the  spiritual  fascination 
which  contentment  and  poverty  can  inspire  —  what  a  delight 
it  can  be  to  own  nothing  on  this  earth  except  a  drink  of  water 
from  the  spring,  a  crust  of  bread  from  the  hand  of  a  merciful 
man,  and  a  night's  lodging  under  the  blue  heavens  with  its 
shining  stars.  Why  should  he  be  troubled  about  so  many 
things,  about  goods  and  money,  house  and  garden,  people  and 
flocks,  when  so  little  is  enough?  Does  not  the  Gospel  say, 
" Blessed  are  the  poor,"  and  "It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  pass 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  "  ? 

Questions  of  this  sort  certainly  troubled  Francis  after  his 
return  from  Rome.  With  greater  zeal  than  ever  he  called 
out  to  God  for  guidance  and  light.  The  friend  who  used  to 
accompany  him  to  the  cave  seems  now  to  have  wearied  of 
going  on  this  search  for  treasures,  that  was  always  fruitless. 
The  only  man  to  whom  Francis  now  and  then  revealed  himself 
was  Bishop  Guido  of  Assisi,  who  probably  was  his  confessor.1 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  Ill,  n.  10.  Compare  the  words  which  St.  Francis,  according 
to  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  said  shortly  before  his  death  to  a  certain  Dominus 
Bonaventura  in  Sienna:  "ab  initio  meae  conversionis  posuit  Dominus  in  ore 
episcopi  Assisii  verbum  suum,  ut  mihi  consuleret  et  bene  confortaret  in  servitio 
Christi"  (ed  Sab.,  cap.  X,  p.  24).  See  also  the  Anonymous  of  Perugia:  "parvi 
et  magni,  masculi  et  feminae  despiciebant  et  deridebant  eos  .  .  .  nisi  solus 
episcopus  civitatis,  ad  quern  ibat  frequenter  beatus  Franciscus  ad  consilium 
postulandum."  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  584,  n.  207.  In  the  same,n.  208:  "Quadam 
vero  die  cum  adiisset  beatus  Franciscus  dominum  episcopum."  See  also  Cel., 
V.  pr.,  n.  15;  Tres  Socii,  nn.  20,  35,  47.  It  follows  from  all  these  citations 
that  the  relations  between  Francis  and  the  authorities  of  the  Church  had  from 
the  start  been  of  the  best. 


32  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

The  light  cast  upon  this  period  by  the  Testament  which 
Francis  has  left  us  has  therefore  a  special  value  for  us.  In 
this  document,  which  was  written  the  year  before  the  Saint's 
death,  we  are  told: 

"The  Lord  granted  me  to  begin  my  conversion,  so  that  as 
long  as  I  lived  in  my  sins,  I  felt  it  very  bitter  to  see  the  lepers. 
But  the  Lord  took  me  among  them  and  I  exercised  mercy 
towards  them."  1 

For  the  lepers  occupied  a  very  particular  position  among 
the  sick  and  poor  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Based  on  a  passage 
in  the  Prophet  Isaiah  (liii.  4)  the  lepers  were  looked  upon  as 
an  image  of  the  Redeemer,  more  than  all  other  sufferers.  As 
early  as  the  days  of  Gregory  the  Great  we  find  the  story  of 
the  monk,  Martyrius,  who  met  a  leper  by  the  wayside,  who 
from  pain  and  weariness  was  fallen  to  the  ground  and  could 
drag  himself  no  further.  Martyrius  wrapped  the  sick  man 
in  his  cloak  and  carried  him  to  his  convent.  But  the  leper 
changed  in  his  arms  to  Jesus  himself,  who  rose  to  heaven  as 
he  blessed  the  monk,  and  said  to  him:  "Martyrius,  thou  wert 
not  ashamed  of  me  on  earth;  I  will  not  be  ashamed  of  thee 
in  heaven!"  A  similar  legend  is  told  of  St.  Julian,  of  St. 
Leo  IX,  and  of  the  Blessed  Colombini. 

And  so  the  lepers  were  more  than  any  others  an  object  for 
pious  care  during  the  Middle  Ages.  For  them  was  founded 
a  special  order  of  knights  —  Knights  of  Lazarus  —  whose 
whole  office  was  to  take  care  of  the  lepers.  So  too  there  were 
erected  all  over  Europe  the  numerous  houses  of  St.  George, 
where  the  lepers  were  taken  care  of  in  a  sort  of  cloistered  life. 
Of  these  lepers'  homes  there  were  19,000  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  But  in  spite  of  everything  the  life  of  the  leper  was 
sad  enough,  they  were  repulsed  by  the  rest  of  humanity,  and 
they  were  hedged  in  by  severe  laws  isolating  them  and  hem- 
ming them  in  on  all  sides.2 

As  with  all  other  cities,  there  was  also  in  the  vicinity  of 
Assisi  a  lepers'  hospital  —  the  lepers  were  in  fact  the  first  real 
hospital  patients  and  in  some  languages  their  name  expresses 

1  Opuscula  S.  Francisci  (Quaracchi,  1904),  p.  77. 

2  Chavin  de  Malan  has  in  his  book  on  St.  Francis  treated  this  subject 
thoroughly.   See  Guasti's  Italian  translation  of  the  book  (Prato,  1879),  pp.  48-60. 


THECONVERSION  33 

this  fact.  The  hospital  lay  midway  between  Assisi  and 
Portiuncula,  near  where  the  words  Casa  Gualdi  appear  over 
the  entrance  to  a  large  estate.  It  was  called  San  Salvatore 
delle  Pareti,  and  was  owned  by  an  order  of  Crucigers,  founded 
under  Alexander  III  for  the  care  of  the  lepers.1 

On  his  walks  in  this  place,  Francis  now  and  then  passed  by 
the  hospital,  but  the  mere  sight  of  it  had  filled  him  with  horror. 
He  would  not  even  give  an  alms  to  a  leper  unless  some  one 
else  would  take  it  for  him.  Especially  when  the  wind  blew 
from  the  hospital,  and  the  weak,  nauseating  odor,  peculiar 
to  the  leper,  came  across  the  road,  he  would  hurry  past  with 
averted  face  and  fingers  in  his  nostrils.2 

It  was  in  this  that  he  felt  his  greatest  weakness,  and  in  it 
he  was  to  win  his  greatest  victory. 

For  one  day,  as  he  was  as  usual  calling  upon  God,  it  hap- 
pened that  the  answer  came.  And  the  answer  was  this: 
" Francis!  Everything  which  you  have  loved  and  desired  in 
the  flesh  it  is  your  duty  to  despise  and  hate,  if  you  wish  to 
know  my  will.  And  when  you  have  begun  thus,  all  that 
which  now  seems  to  you  sweet  and  lovely  will  become  intol- 
erable and  bitter,  but  all  which  you  used  to  avoid  will  turn 
itself  to  great  sweetness  and  exceeding  joy." 

These  were  the  words  which  at  last  gave  Francis  a  definite 
programme,  which  showed  him  the  way  he  was  to  follow.  He 
certainly  pondered  over  these  words  in  his  lonely  rides  over  the 
Umbrian  plain  and,  just  as  he  one  day  woke  out  of  reverie, 
he  found  the  horse  making  a  sudden  movement,  and  saw  on 
the  road  before  him,  only  a  few  steps  distant,  a  leper,  in  his 
familiar  uniform. 

Francis  started,  and  even  his  horse  shared  in  the  movement, 
and  his  first  impulse  was  to  turn  and  flee  as  fast  as  he  could. 
But  there  were  the  words  he  had  heard  within  himself,  so 
clearly  before  him  —  "  what  you  used  to  abhor  shall  be  to 
you  joy  and  sweetness.,,  .  .  .  And  what  had  he  hated  more 
than  the  lepers?  Here  was  the  time  to  take  the  Lord  at  His 
word  —  to  show  his  good  will.  .  .  . 

1Sabatier:  Vie,  p.  123,  n.  1. 

2"vultum  suum  semper  avertens,  nares  suas  propriis  manibus  obturabat" 
(Tres  Socii,  cap.  IV,  n.  11). 

4 


34  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

And  with  a  mighty  victory  over  himself,  Francis  sprang 
from  his  horse,  approached  the  leper,  from  whose  deformed 
countenance  the  awful  odor  of  corruption  issued  forth,  placed 
his  alms  in  the  outstretched  wasted  hand  —  bent  down 
quickly  and  kissed  the  fingers  of  the  sick  man,  covered  with 
the  awful  disease,  whilst  his  system  was  nauseated  with  the 
action.  .  .  . 

When  he  again  sat  upon  his  horse,  he  hardly  knew  how  he 
had  got  there.  He  was  overcome  by  excitement,  his  heart 
beat,  he  knew  not  whither  he  rode.  But  the  Lord  had  kept 
his  word.  Sweetness,  happiness,  and  joy  streamed  into  his 
soul  —  flowed  and  kept  flowing,  although  his  soul  seemed 
full  and  more  full  —  like  the  clear  stream  which,  filling 
an  earthen  vessel,  keeps  on  pouring  and  flows  over  its  rim, 
with  an  ever  clearer,  purer  stream.  .  .  . 

The  next  day  Francis  voluntarily  wandered  down  the  road 
he  had  hitherto  always  avoided  —  the  road  to  San  Salvatore 
delle  Pareti.  And  when  he  reached  the  gate  he  knocked, 
and  when  it  was  opened  to  him  he  entered.  From  all  the 
cells  the  sick  came  swarming  out  —  came  with  their  half- 
destroyed  faces,  blind  inflamed  eyes,  with  club-feet,  with 
swollen,  corrupted  arms  and  fingerless  hands.  And  all  this 
dreadful  crowd  gathered  around  the  young  merchant,  and  the 
odor  from  their  unclean  swellings  was  so  strong  that  Francis 
against  his  will  for  a  moment  had  to  hold  his  breath  to  save 
himself  from  sickness.  But  he  soon  recovered  control  of 
himself,  he  drew  out  the  well-filled  purse  he  had  brought  with 
him,  and  began  to  deal  out  his  alms.  And  on  every  one  of 
the  dreadful  hands  that  were  reached  out  to  take  his  gifts 
he  imprinted  a  kiss,  as  he  had  done  the  day  before. 

Thus  it  was  that  Francis  won  the  greatest  victory  man 
can  win  —  the  victory  over  oneself.  From  now  on  he  was 
master  of  himself,  and  not  like  the  most  of  us  —  his  own 
slave. 

But  even  the  greatest  victor  in  the  spiritual  field  must  be 
ever  on  the  watch  for  his  always  vigilant  enemy.  Francis 
had  conquered  in  great  things  —  the  tempter  tried  now  to 
bring  him  to  defeat  in  small  things. 

Francis  continued  as  before  to  go  every  day  to  his  oratory 


THE    CONVERSION  35 

in  the  cave  outside  the  city  to  pray  there.  Now  it  often 
happened  that  on  the  way  there  he  met  a  humpbacked  old 
woman  —  one  of  the  common  deformed  creatures  who,  in 
the  south,  so  willingly  betake  themselves  to  the  sheltering 
obscurity  of  the  churches.  They  can  be  seen  there  all  day 
long,  rattling  their  rosaries,  or  dozing  in  a  corner,  but  the 
instant  a  stranger  approaches,  they  draw  the  kerchief  around 
their  heads,  limp  out  from  their  corner,  and  mutter  piteously 
with  outstretched  hand:  "Un  soldo,  signore!  Un  soldo, 
signorino  mio!"  (A  penny,  sir!  A  penny,  sir!) 
.  Such  a  pitiful  old  beggar  was  it  who  now  every  day  limped 
across  the  young  man's  path.  And  it  happened  that  in  the 
newly  converted  young  soul  there  rose  a  repugnance  and  a 
resistance  —  a  repugnance  to  the  dirt  and  misery  of  the  old 
woman,  a  resistance  to  her  troublesome  ways  and  to  her 
persistency.  And  as  he  went  on  his  way,  and  the  sun  shone, 
and  the  fields  were  green,  and  the  distant  mountains  showed 
grey-blue,  a  voice  whispered  within  him:  "And  are  you  will- 
ing to  give  up  all  this  —  are  you  willing  to  abandon  it  all? 
You  will  give  up  light  and  sun,  life  and  joy,  the  cheerful 
open-air  feasts  —  and  will  shut  yourself  up  in  a  cave  and 
waste  your  best  years  in  useless  prayers,  and  finally  become 
an  old  fool,  shaking  with  the  palsy,  who  pitifully  wanders 
about  from  church  to  church,  and,  perhaps  in  secret,  sighs 
and  mourns  over  his  wasted  life  ?  ' ' 

Thus  the  wicked  enemy  whispered  into  the  young  man's 
soul,  and  this  was  the  moment  when  Francis'  youth  and 
light-loving  eyes  and  knightly  soul  weakened.  But  as  he 
reached  his  cave  he  always  succeeded  in  conquering  himself 
—  and  the  harder  the  struggle  had  been,  the  deeper  was  the 
peace  which  followed  —  the  joy  and  the  hope  —  all  in  con- 
verse with  God.1 

1 1  believe  that  in  this  description  I  have  given  the  right  interpretation  of 
the  episode,  which  in  the  Tres  Socii  is  only  told  in  the  following  words:  "Quaedam 
mulier  erat  Assisii  gibbosa  deformiter,  quam  daemon  viro  Dei  apparens  sibi  ad 
memoriam  reducebat,  et  comminibatur  eidem,  quod  gibbositatem  illius  mulieris 
iactaret  in  ipsum,  concepto  nisi  a  proposito  resiliret.  Sed  Christi  miles  for- 
tissimus,  minas  diaboli  vilipendens,  intra  (intrans?)  criptam  orabat."  (Cap. 
IV,  n.  12.) 


CHAPTER  VI 
TEE  MESSAGE  IN  SAN  DAMIANO 

GOD  gave  me  also,"  thus  St.   Francis  speaks,  where 
in  his  testament  he  speaks  of  his  youth,  "God  gave 
me  also  so  great  a  confidence  in  the  churches  that 
I  simply  prayed  and  said  this:    'We  pray  to  thee, 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  here  and  in  all  thy  churches,  all  over  the 
whole  world,  and  we  bless  thee  because  with  thy  Holy  Cross 
thou  hast  redeemed  the  world!'" 

"And  then  the  Lord  gave  me  and  still  gives  me  so  great  a 
confidence  in  priests,  who  live  by  the  rite  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  that  if  they  even  persecuted  me,  I  would  for  the  sake 
of  their  consecration  say  nothing  about  it.  And  if  I  had  the 
wisdom  of  Solomon  and  travelled  in  the  parishes  of  poor 
priests,  yet  I  would  not  preach  without  their  permission. 
And  them  and  all  other  priests  I  will  fear,  love,  and  honor 
as  my  superiors,  and  I  will  not  look  on  their  faults,  for  I  see 
God's  Son  in  them,  and  they  are  my  superiors.  And  I  do 
this  because,  here  on  earth,  I  see  nothing  of  the  Son  of  the 
Highest  God,  except  his  most  holy  body  and  blood,  which 
the  priests  receive  and  which  only  they  give  to  others.  And 
these  solemn  secrets  I  will  honor  and  venerate  above  every- 
thing and  keep  them  in  the  most  sacred  places."  1 

We  have  here  from  the  last  year  of  Francis'  life  the  most 
authentic  testimony  as  to  his  feeling  all  through  his  life 
towards  the  Church  and  the  clergy.  And  this  testimony 
coming  from  himself  accords  exactly  with  all  that  his  biogra- 
phers tell  us  about  the  same  phase  of  his  character. 

1  "in  locis  preciosis."  This  referred  both  to  the  churches  and  to  the  taber- 
nacles in  which  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is  kept,  and  finally  to  the  vessels  of  the 
altar  (ciborium,  pyx).  Opuscula  S.  P.  Francisci  (Quaracchi,  1904),  pp.  77-78. 
Compare  Celano,  V.  pr.,  n.  45;  Tres  Socii,  n.  37;  Anon.  Perus.  (A.  SS.,  Oct.  II), 
p.  584,  n.  210;   Bonav.,  n.  42. 

36 


THE     MESSAGE     IN     SAN    DAMIANO  37 

It  has  already  been  told  how  Francis  showed  his  interest 
in  church  affairs  in  supplying  poor  churches  with  proper 
vestments  and  the  like.  The  environs  of  Assisi  even  to-day 
contain  enough  of  such  small  churches,  road-  and  field- 
chapels,  often  half  in  ruin.  Their  doors  are  frequently 
locked,  so  seldom  are  they  used ;  one  can  look  into  them  through 
low  windows,  outside  of  which  kneeling  benches  are  often 
placed,  and  on  the  altar  there  will  be  seen  a  torn  cloth,  laid 
awry,  wooden  vases  with  dusty  paper  flowers,  and  wooden 
candlesticks  which  were  once  gilded  but  are  now  cracked 
and  grey. 

Nevertheless  there  can  be  something  very  devotional  in 
such  lonely  deserted  churches.  If  they  are  open  so  that  one 
can  enter,  perhaps  on  the  walls  will  be  found  half-obliterated 
old  frescoes,  painted  by  those  disciples  of  Giotto  or  Simone 
Martini  who,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  seem  to  have  person- 
ally visited  the  most  remote  of  the  smaller  cities  and  villages 
of  the  Apennines.  The  holy-water  font  is  long  empty  and 
full  of  dust,  but  as  one  kneels  in  prayer,  the  wind  is  heard 
sighing  through  the  chestnut  groves  or  a  mountain  stream 
foams  in  the  solemn  loneliness. 

The  old  church  of  San  Damiano,  a  little  outside  of  and 
below  the  city,  was  such  a  half-ruined  chapel  in  the  time  of 
Francis'  youth.1  The  road  to  it  has  not  changed  much  in  the 
seven  centuries  which  have  passed;  it  slopes  rather  steeply 
and  passes  by  a  broad  whitewashed  house,  with  large,  yellow 
grain-houses  of  the  shape  of  beehives  around  it,  and  among 
the  olive  groves,  where  the  corn  grows  luxuriantly  under  the 
gnarled  olive  trees'  fine  silver-grey  web  of  branches  and 
leaves.  In  fifteen  minutes'  walking  San  Damiano  is  reached, 
which  now  is  a  convent,  occupied  by  brown  Franciscans. 

In  the  days  of  Francis'  youth,  San  Damiano  was  only  a 
little  tottering  field-chapel,  whose  material  adornment  con- 
sisted of  a  large  Byzantine  crucifix  over  the  high  altar.  In 
front  of  this  crucifix  Francis  was  often  wont  to  pray,  and  thus 
it  happened  to  him  that  once,  a  little  while  after  his  visit  to 
the  lepers,  he  knelt  one  day  in  prayer  before  the  image  of  the 

1This  was  mentioned  in  1030.  Henry  Thode:  Franz  v.  Assisi  und  die 
Anfange  der  Kunst  (Berlin,  1885),  p.  298. 


38  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Crucified  One  within  the  church  of  San  Damiano.  After  he 
had  placed  himself  in  thought  upon  the  Cross  for  the  first 
time,  this  spiritual  crucifixion  became  a  favorite  exercise  for 
his  meditations.  With  an  imploring  gaze  fixed  upon  the 
hallowed  countenance  of  Jesus,  he  uttered  the  following 
prayer,  which  tradition  has  preserved  for  us: 

" Great  and  glorious  God,  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ!  I  im- 
plore thee  to  enlighten  me  and  to  disperse  the  darkness  of 
my  soul!  Give  me  true  faith  and  firm  hope  and  a  perfect 
charity!  Grant  me,  O  Lord,  to  know  thee  so  well  that  in 
all  things  I  may  act  by  thy  light,  and  in  accordance  with 
thy  holy  will!"1 

The  whole  of  the  young  man's  striving  in  the  year  that  had 
passed  since  he  had  stood  on  the  roadside  not  far  from  San 
Damiano,  and  had  found  the  world  empty  and  his  soul  a 
waste,  are  gathered  together  and  framed  in  this  simple  and 
profound  prayer.  This  it  was  that  he  had  always  sought  for 
and  wished  for,  through  all  his  errors  and  weakness  —  light  to 
see  the  will  of  God  and  to  act  in  accordance  therewith.  The 
whole  of  his  life  from  that  time  up  to  this  moment  had  been 
one  repetition  in  many  forms,  but  with  increasing  fervor, 
of  the  words:    " Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth!" 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  God  deigned  to  speak  to  his 
servant,  Francis.  From  the  crucifix  came  a  voice  that  could 
only  be  heard  within  the  heart,  and  what  the  voice  said  was 
this:  "Now  go  hence,  Francis,  and  build  up  my  house,  for 
it  is  nearly  falling  down!" 

And  just  as  that  time  in  Spoleto,  when  he  was  commanded 
to  abandon  his  journey  to  Aquila,  Francis  was  at  once  ready 
to  obey  the  divine  message.  Simple  and  literal  as  he  was, 
he  looked  about  him  in  the  old  chapel  and  saw  that  it  was 
nearly  falling  down.  And  trembling  under  the  solemnity  of 
the  moment,  he  answered  the  Crucified  One  who  had  vouch- 
safed to  speak  to  him:  "Lord,  with  joy  will  I  do  what  thou 
wishest." 

At  last  God  had  heard  his  prayer!  at  last  God  had  set  him 
to  work!  And  quick  in  his  movements  as  Francis  was,  he 
at  once  set  to  work  to  carry  out  the  Lord's  directions.     Out- 

1  Wadding:  Annates  Afinoriim,  I  (Romae,  1731),  p.  31. 


THE     MESSAGE     IN     SAN    DAMIANO  39 

side  the  door  he  found  the  priest  of  the  place,  a  poor  old 
Father,  sitting  in  the  sun  on  a  stone  bench.  The  young  man 
approached  him  deferentially,  kissed  his  hand  in  greeting, 
took  out  his  purse,  and  gave  to  the  astonished  priest  a  con- 
siderable sum  of  money,  saying:  "I  beg  you  to  buy  oil  with 
this  money  so  that  there  shall  always  be  a  lamp  burning 
before  the  crucifix  within,  and  you  may  let  me  know  when 
there  is  no  more  and  I  will  supply  it  again." 

Before  the  old  priest  could  recover  from  his  astonishment 
Francis  was  gone.  His  heart  was  overflowing,  his  soul  was 
trembling  with  the  great  event  that  had  happened  to  him. 
As  he  went  along,  he  made  now  and  then  the  sign  of  the  Cross, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  he  each  time  imprinted  deeper  and  deeper 
the  image  of  the  Crucified  One  upon  his  heart.  Unsurpass- 
ably  true  and  incomparably  beautiful,  the  old  legend  goes  on 
to  say  that  from  that  hour  the  thought  of  the  sufferings  of 
our  Lord  made  Francis'  heart  melt,  so  that  he  from  now  on 
as  long  as  he  lived  bore  in  his  heart  the  wounds  of  our  Lord 
Jesus.1 

But  more  money  was  needed  to  build  up  San  Damiano's 
church  than  what  Francis  had  with  him  at  the  moment. 
But  in  the  interim  he  had  not  the  least  doubt  as  to  how  he 
should  get  the  necessary  means.  As  fast  as  his  feet  could 
carry  him  he  hurried  home,  took  some  rolls  of  fine  cloth  out 
of  the  shop,  loaded  a  pack-horse  with  it,  and  took  the  road  to 
Foligno,  to  bring  his  goods  to  the  market  in  this  large  neigh- 
boring city  as  he  had  been  wont  to  do.  In  the  course  of  a 
short  time  he  had  sold  both  goods  and  horse,  and  was  back 
with  the  money  to  San  Damiano  —  the  cjistance  between  the 
two  places  is  a  small  number  of  miles,  and  Francis  rode  on 
the  outward  trip. 

Perhaps  he  found  the  priest  still  on  the  stone  bench,  sun- 
ning himself  as  he  returned.  In  any  case,  the  young  man 
found  him,  and  as  he  again  greeted  him  reverentially,  he  put 
the  whole  sum  of  money,  no  inconsiderable  one,  which  his 

1  "Ab  ilia  itaque  hora  ita  vulneratum  et  liquefactum  est  cor  ejus  ad  memoriam 
Dominicae  passionis,  quod  semper  dum  vixit,  stigmata  Domini  Jesu  Christi 
in  corde  suo  portavit"  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  V,  n.  14.  Compare  Bonav.,  Leg. 
Major,  I,  n.  5,  II,  n.  1). 


40  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

transaction  had  brought  him,  into  the  priest's  lap,  with  the 
words  that  it  was  for  the  restoration  of  the  church.1 

The  priest  had  accepted  the  former  and  less  considerable 
alms,  but  when  Francis  now  came  with  all  this  sum  of  money, 
and  wished  to  give  it  to  him,  he  feared  that  something  was 
wrong,  and  said  no.  Perhaps  he  thought  that  it  was  one  of 
the  young  society  man's  wild  impulses,  and  that  the  gift  was 
not  seriously  meant.  In  any  case,  he  wanted  to  stand  well 
with  Pietro  di  Bernardone,  and  was  therefore  determined  to 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  affair.  In  vain  did  Francis 
sit  down  by  the  side  of  the  old  priest  and  use  all  his  powers 
of  persuasion  to  weaken  his  determination.  All  was  futile; 
Francis  only  obtained  this  much:  the  priest  would  permit 
him  to  live  at  San  Damiano  for  a  while,  to  devote  himself 
without  interruption  to  prayer  and  works  of  piety. 

From  now  on,  Francis  was  virtually  ordained  to  lead  what 
was  called  in  the  Middle  Ages  "a  religious  life,"  that  is  to  say, 
the  life  of  a  monk  or  hermit.  He  did  not  think  of  entering 
a  convent,  —  in  his  Testament  he  says  himself  that  no  one 
showed  him  the  way  to  his  vita  religiosa,  but  that  the  Almighty 
taught  it  to  him.  But  in  referring  to  the  change  that  came 
to  him  at  this  time,  he  uses  the  exact  classical  expression  in 
the  same  place,  which  designates  the  entering  an  order :  "to 
leave  the  world."  Exivi  de  saeculo,  he  says,  "I  abandoned 
the  world."  2  The  time  he  was  now  to  spend  with  the  priest 
in  San  Damiano  can  be  properly  regarded  as  his  novitiate  — 
but  a  novitiate  in  which  the  spirit  of  God  alone  was  his  teacher, 
director  and  taskmaster. 

Near  the  priest's  house  there  was  a  cave,  and,  true  to  his 
custom,  Francis  had  chosen  this  as  his  prayer  chamber. 
Here  he  spent  nights  and  days  in  prayer  and  fasting,  with 
tears  and  "unspeakable  groanings."  3 

While  these  things  were  occurring,  Pietro  di  Bernardone 
had  been  on  one  of  his  business  trips.  Now  he  returned  home 
and  did  not  find  his  son.  Pica  did  not  know  what  had  be- 
come of  him,  or,  if  she  did  know,  would  not  tell.  But,  how- 
ever this  may  be,  the  old  merchant  soon  found  his  son's 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  VI,  n.  16.    Thomas  of  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  IV. 
2Opuscula  (Quar.,  1904),  pp.  79,  77.  3  Rom.  viii.,  26. 


THE     MESSAGE     IN     SAN    DAMIANO  41 

hiding  place,  and  betook  himself  thither,  but  did  not  find 
Francis,  who  was  hidden  in  his  cave.  Meanwhile,  the  priest 
seems  to  have  utilized  the  opportunity  to  give  Pietro  di 
Bernardone  the  money  from  his  son's  business  transaction; 
Francis  had  laid  it  aside  in  a  window  recess  in  the  church. 
The  disappearance  of  the  cloth  and  of  the  horse  had  naturally 
been  one  of  the  causes  of  the  coming  of  Pietro  di  Bernardone; 
after  he  had  recovered  the  money,  he  went  home  much 
quieted,  and  spent  a  whole  month  without  making  any  new 
attempt  to  find  or  to  speak  to  his  first-born.  Food  was 
meanwhile  brought  to  him  in  the  cave  from  his  home  — 
probably  by  his  mother's  contrivance.1 

It  is  fair  to  say  that  Francis  employed  this  month  to  imbue 
himself  in  the  great  thought  which,  from  now  on,  presented 
itself  to  him  as  the  essence  of  Christianity  —  the  life  of  Christ 
the  Crucified  in  every  one  of  the  faithful.  The  Epistle  of  Paul 
to  the  Romans  is  one  of  the  Biblical  writings  Francis  most 
frequently  quotes.2  And  it  is  precisely  in  this  book  that 
Paul  appears  more  strongly  than  elsewhere  to  be  not  only 
the  great  Christian  dogmatic,  but  also  the  great  Christian 
mystic.  This  is  neither  scientific  hypothesis  nor  flower  of 
literature,  but  is  in  accordance  with  the  facts,  when  I  find 
the  emotions  of  the  young  son  of  the  Italian  merchant,  in  this 

1  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  V.  Tres  Socii,  cap.  VI,  n.  16.  —  According  to  a 
later  tradition  Francis,  on  his  father's  return,  found  refuge  in  an  opening  which 
miraculously  appeared  in  the  road,  and  into  which  he  disappeared,  while  his 
father  walked  past  it.  Wadding  (I,  p.  31)  is  the  first  who  refers  to  this  "con- 
cavitas  .  .  .  cui  ego,  quo  potui  affectu  et  reverentia  memet  immersi."  The 
hole,  upon  whose  rear  wall  is  a  life-size  painting  of  St.  Francis,  is  still  shown 
to  those  who  visit  S.  Damiano  —  as  a  rule  with  the  above  explanation.  So  far 
from  having  any  miraculous  origin,  the  said  excavation  has  its  origin  in  the 
desire  men,  in  old  as  well  as  recent  times,  have  had  to  perpetuate  the  height  of 
celebrated  persons  (compare  the  gate  in  the  Lateran  church  in  Rome,  said 
to  be  of  the  height  of  Our  Lord  —  the  historic  column  in  the  cathedral  in  Ros- 
kilde,  etc.).  In  his  Annates  (1226,  n.  42)  Wadding  for  instance  tells  the  follow- 
ing of  St.  Clara,  the  friend  of  St.  Francis,  into  whose  possession,  as  is  known, 
San  Damiano  eventually  passed:  "mensa  est  sancti  patris  corpus,  ad  cujus 
staturam  postea  curavit  fieri  quoddam  receptaculum  ad  tribunae  dorsum, 
ubi  et  ejus  imaginem  fecit  depingi."  This  explains  the  existence  of  the  recess 
or  excavation  as  well  as  of  the  painting. 

2 Thus  in  the  Admonitiones,  cap.  VI:  Rom.  viii.  35;  cap.  XI:  Rom.  ii.  5;  in 
the  first  .Rule,  cap.  IX:  Rom.  xiv.  3;  cap.  XI:  Rom.  i.  29-30;  in  the  second 
Rule,  cap.  IX:  Rom.  ix.  28. 


42  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

time  of  proof  and  probation  at  San  Damiano,  expressed  in 
these  words  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans : 

"  There  is  now,  therefore,  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are 
in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  according  to  the  flesh.  For 
the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life,  in  Christ  Jesus,  hath  delivered  me 
from  the  law  of  sin  and  of  death  .  .  .  that  the  justification 
of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  according  to 
the  flesh,  but  according  to  the  spirit.  .  .  .  For  if  you  live 
according  to  the  flesh,  you  shall  die:  but  if  by  the  spirit  you 
mortify  the  deeds  of  the  flesh,  you  shall  live.  For  whosoever 
are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God.  .  .  . 
For  the  Spirit  himself  giveth  testimony  to  our  spirit,  that  we 
are  the  sons  of  God.  And  if  sons,  heirs  also:  heirs,  indeed  of 
God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ:  yet  so  if  we  suffer  with  him, 
that  we  may  be  also  glorified  with  him.  .  .  .  For  whom  he 
foreknew,  he  also  predestinated  to  be  made  conformable  to 
the  image  of  his  Son:  ..." 

It  is  probable  that  to  this  month  at  San  Damiano  we  may 
assign  an  occurrence,  preserved  for  us  in  the  legends  without 
any  more  exact  chronology.  Francis  was  seen  one  day 
wandering  around  on  the  plain  below  Assisi  in  the  vicinity  of 
a  little  old  chapel  which  was  called  Portiuncula  or  S.  Maria 
degli  Angeli,  " Our  Lady  of  the  Angels."  He  wandered  around 
the  chapel  sighing  and  weeping  as  if  overcome  by  a  great 
sorrow.  A  passer-by  approached  him  and  asked  in  sympa- 
thy what  had  gone  wrong  with  him,  and  why  he  wept.  Then 
Francis  answered:  "I  am  weeping  over  the  sufferings  of  my 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  I  will  not  be  ashamed  to  wander 
around  the  whole  world  and  weep  over  them."  This  so 
affected  the  stranger  that  he  too  began  to  shed  tears,  and  they 
wept  together.1 

Thus  for  Francis  of  Assisi  the  life  began,  not  after  the  flesh 
but  after  the  spirit,  which  was  to  lead  him  ever  higher,  until 
he  approached  as  near  as  man  can  attain  to  the  image  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Crucified. 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  V,  n.  14.     Celano,  Vita  secunda,  I,  cap.  VI. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  ABANDONMENT  OF  HIS  HOME  AND  FATHER 

ONE  April  day  in  the  year  1207,  Pietro  di  Bernardone 
stood  behind  the  counter  in  his  shop,  when  he 
heard  a  great  noise  in  the  street  —  the  sound  of 
many  voices,  shouting,  screaming,  and  laughter. 
The  noise  approached  nearer  and  nearer;  now  it  seemed  to  be 
at  the  nearest  corner.  The  old  merchant  signed  to  one  of  his 
clerks  to  run  out  and  see  what  was  going  on. 

"Un  pazzo,  Messer  Pietro!"  was  the  clerk's  contemptuous 
report.     "It  is  a  crazy  man,  whom  the  boys  are  chasing !" 

The  clerk  stood  yet  a  moment  and  turned  around  white 
in  the  face.     He  had  seen  who  the  crazy  man  was.  .  .  . 

And  a  moment  after,  Pietro  di  Bernardone  stood  in  the 
doorway,  and  saw  in  the  midst  of  the  howling  crowd  who 
now  were  close  to  the  house,  his  son,  his  Francis,  his  first- 
born, for  whom  he  had  dreamt  such  great  things,  and  for 
whom  he  had  nourished  such  bright  hopes.  .  .  .  There  he 
came  now  home  at  last,  in  a  disgraceful  company,  pale  and 
emaciated  to  the  eye,  with  dishevelled  hair  and  dark  rings 
under  his  eyes,  bleeding  from  the  stones  thrown  at  him, 
covered  with  the  dirt  of  the  street,  which  the  boys  had  cast 
upon  him.  .  .  .  This  was  his  Francis,  the  pride  of  his  eyes, 
the  support  of  his  age,  the  joy  of  his  life  and  his  comfort  —  it 
had  come  to  this,  to  this  had  all  these  crazy,  cursed  ideas 
brought  him.  .  .  . 

Sorrow,  shame,  and  anger  almost  overcame  Pietro  di 
Bernardone.  Nearer  and  nearer  came  the  shouting  and 
howling  throng  —  mercilessly  grinning  they  called  to  him 
where  he  stood  upon  his  steps:  "See  here,  Pietro  di  Bernar- 
done, we  bring  you  your  pretty  son,  your  proud  knight  — 

43 


44  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

now  he  is  coming  home  from  the  war  in  Aquila,  and  has  won 
the  princess  and  half  the  kingdom !" 

The  old  merchant  could  control  himself  no  longer.  He  had 
to  give  way  to  rage  to  avoid  weeping.  Like  a  wild  beast  he 
ran  down  into  the  mob,  striking  and  kicking  to  right  and  left, 
until  the  crowd,  fairly  frightened,  opened  and  dispersed.  With- 
out a  word,  he  seized  his  son  and  took  him  up  into  his  arms. 
His  rage  gave  the  old  man  a  giant's  strength:  raging  and 
gritting  his  teeth  he  bore  Francis  through  the  house  and 
finally  threw  him,  almost  exhausted  and  out  pf  his  senses, 
down  upon  the  floor  in  a  dark  cellar,  where  he  locked  him  in. 
With  trembling  hands  he  stuck  the  keys  in  his  belt  and  re- 
turned to  his  work.1 

Pietro  di  Bernardone's  hope  was  to  overcome  his  son's  last 
madness  with  a  good  term  of  career  —  to  use  the  German 
students'  expression.  To  the  dark  prison  he  added  therefore 
in  addition  a  diet  of  bread  and  water,  thinking  that  he  would 
thus  reach  his  son's  weak  point,  whose  sweet  tooth  he  had 
known  since  his  early  days.2 

But  the  old  days  were  gone,  and  Francis  had  changed — he 
was  approaching  the  times  when  he  would  sprinkle  ashes  on 
his  food,  if  it  tasted  too  good,  saying  to  his  brothers  that 
" Brother  Ashes"  was  chaste.3  And  when  Messer  Pietro 
after  the  lapse  of  a  few  days  had  to  go  out  again,  and  Fru 
Pica  opened  the  door  of  the  prison,  hoping  to  do  with  her 
tears  and  prayers  that  which  imprisonment  and  hunger  had 
not  accomplished,  she  found  her  son  uncowed  and  unsubdued, 
yes,  glad  to  have  suffered  something  for  his  convictions. 

After  she  realized  that  Francis  would  not  give  up  his  new 
mode  of  life,  she  took  advantage  of  the  absence  of  her  husband 

1 1  have  here  attempted,  as  I  have  done  in  the  first  chapter  and  in  the  end 
of  chapter  V,  a  fuller  psychological  description  of  that  which  biographers  have 
only  given  a  few  words  to.  But  no  fault  can  be  found  with  the  description  of 
Pietro  di  Bernardone  in  the  Tres  Socii  ("torvo  oculo,"  "hirsuta  facie,"  etc.). 
Like  all  who,  as  opposed  to  an  absolute  ideal,  represent  the  more  limited 
scope  of  the  practical,  Pietro  di  Bernardone  has  often  been  unjustly  condemned. 
See  Celano,  Vita  prima,  cap.  V,  n.  15. 

2"ut  ipse  vir  Dei  confessus  postea  est  frequenter,  electuariis  et  confectionibus 
utebatur  et  a  cibis  contrariis  abstinebat."     Tres  Socii,  cap.  VII,  n.  22. 

3  "in  cibis,  quos  edebat,  saepe  ponebat  cinerem,  dicens  fratribus  in  absti- 
nentiae  suae  velamen,  fratrem  cinerem  esse  castum."     Tres  Socii,  cap.  V,  n.  15. 


ABANDONMENT     OF     HIS     HOME  45 

and  set  the  prisoner  at  liberty.  And  as  a  bird  flies  to  its  nest, 
Francis  at  once  returned  to  his  refuge  by  San  Damiano. 

Pietro  di  Bernardone  soon  returned  from  his  trip  and  found 
the  cage  empty.  Instead  of  again  seeking  his  son  in  San 
Damiano,  he  tried  the  law.  He  turned  to  the  lawyers  of  the 
city  for  the  purpose  of  disinheriting  his  erring  son,  or  at  any 
rate  of  banishing  him  from  the  locality.1  Furthermore,  he 
wanted  to  get  back  all  the  money  that  Francis  was  in  posses- 
sion of.  Apparently  the  mother  had  not  let  her  son  go  away 
from  home  empty-handed;  perhaps  all  the  money  of  the 
Foligno  transaction  was  not  yet  spent. 

In  the  words  of  the  chronicler,  Mariano,  Pietro  di  Bernar- 
done was  "Reipublicae  benefactor  et  pro  visor"  (a  benefactor 
and  guardian  of  the  republic)  —  one  of  the  city's  greatest 
benefactors.2  Nothing  was  more  likely  than  that  the  author- 
ities would  seek  to  accede  to  his  request,  and  the  herald  of 
the  state  was  sent  down  to  arrest  Francis.  On  his  part  he 
refused  to  obey  the  summons,  answering:  "By  the  grace  of 
God  I  am  now  a  free  man  and  not  obliged  to  appear  before 
the  court,  because  I  am  only  the  servant  of  the  Highest  God." 
As  Sabatier  has  remarked,  this  answer  can  only  be  taken  in 
the  sense  that  Francis  had  now  received  the  lower  orders  and 
so  came  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church.  The  intimate 
relations  between  him  and  the  Bishop  of  Assisi  give  this  sup- 
position great  probability.3 

The  father  seems  to  have  awaited  the  return  of  the  herald 
in  the  City  Hall.  In  any  case,  the  lawyers  let  him  know  at 
once  that  they  to  their  sorrow  had  to  let  the  case  go.  Pietro 
di  Bernardone,  however,  would  not  let  the  legal  prosecution 
thus  begun  cease,  and  shortly  brought  his  complaint  into  the 
episcopal  palace  on  the  Piazza  del  Vescovado  before  the 
representatives  of  the  Church.  .The  affair  was  here  taken 
up,  and  at  an  appointed  time  father  and  son  met  before  the 
Bishop.4 

From  the  first  it  was  evident  on  whose  side  his  sympathies 

Julian  of  Speier  (A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  568,  n.  124). 

2  Quoted  in  Wadding  (I,  p.  17). 

3  Sabatier:  Vie,  p.  68,  n.  2. 

4  Guido  II  had  occupied  the  Bishop's  throne  in  Assisi  since  1204.  Cristo- 
fani:  Storie,  I,  169  et  seq.;  Sabatier:  Vie,  p.  69,  n.  2. 


46  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

were.  The  motive,  which  he  adduced  to  persuade  Francis 
to  return  all  the  money  he  might  have  received  from  his 
father,  was  anything  but  acceptable  to  Pietro  di  Bernardone. 
"If  it  is  your  desire  to  serve  God,"  said  he  to  the  young  man, 
"then  give  his  mammon  back  to  your  father,  which  perhaps 
has  been  obtained  by  unjust  methods,  and  therefore  should 
not  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church."  1 

These  words,  said  in  the  presence  of  the  numerous  hearers 
who  had  come  to  the  place  to  hear  the  celebrated  suit  between 
one  of  the  city's  most  distinguished  men  and  his  crazy  son, 
were  not  adapted  to  pacify  the  old  merchant.  All  eyes 
turned  from  him  to  his  son,  who  sat  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Bishop,  still  clothed  in  his  costly  scarlet  clothes.  And  now 
something  wonderful  happened  —  something  that  never  be- 
fore had  happened  in  the  world's  history,  and  never  will 
happen  again  —  something  which  the  painters  of  succeeding 
centuries  should  immortalize,  which  poets  should  sing  of, 
and  priests  preach  about.  Francis  stood  up  in  silence  with 
streaming  eyes.  "My  Lord,"  said  he,  turning  towards  the 
Bishop,  "I  will  not  only  give  him  the  money  cheerfully,  but 
also  the  clothes  I  have  received  from  him."  And  before 
anyone  had  time  to  think  what  he  intended  to  do,  he  had 
disappeared  into  an  adjoining  room,  back  of  the  courtroom, 
a  moment  later  to  reappear,  naked,  except  for  a  girdle  of  hair- 
cloth about  his  loins,  and  with  his  clothes  on  his  arm.  All 
involuntarily  stood  up  —  Pietro  di  Bernardone  and  his  son 
Francis  were  face  to  face.  And  with  a  voice  that  trembled 
with  emotion,  the  young  man  said,  as  he  looked  over  the 
heads  of  the  audience,  as  if  he  saw  some  one  or  something  in 
the   distance : 

"Listen,  all  of  you,  to  what  I  have  to  say!  Hitherto  I 
have  called  Pietro  di  Bernardone  father.  Now  I  return  to 
him  his  money  and  all  the  clothes  I  got  from  him,  so  that 
hereafter  I  shall  not  say:  Father  Pietro  di  Bernardone,  but 
Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven!" 

And  Francis  bent  down  and  laid  his  clothes  of  scarlet  and 
fine  linen  at  his  father's  feet,  with  a  quantity  of  money.  A 
mighty  movement  ran  through  the  audience.     Many  began 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  VI,  n.  19. 


ABANDONMENT     OF    HIS     HOME  47 

to  weep;  even  the  Bishop  had  tears  in  his  eyes.  Only  Pietro 
di  Bernardone  was  unmoved.  With  a  face  of  stone,  he  stooped 
down,  white  with  rage  but  without  uttering  a  word,  and  took 
up  the  clothes  and  money.  Then  the  Bishop  stepped  over 
to  Francis,  spread  his  cape  over  him,  and  clothed  the 
naked  young  man  in  its  white  folds  as  he  pressed  him  to 
his  heart.  From  now  on  Francis  was  what  he  so  long  had 
wished  to  be  —  the  servant  of  God  only  and  a  man  of  the 
Church. 

When  the  first  strong  emotion  was  over,  and  Francis  was 
alone  with  the  Bishop,  he  began  to  think  of  clothing  for  the 
young  man.  In  the  Bishop's  residence  there  was  found  an 
old  cloak  which  had  been  the  property  of  the  gardener; 
Francis  took  this  with  delight  and,  as  he  left  the  Bishop's 
palace,  drew  with  a  bit  of  chalk  he  had  found  a  cross  on  the 
back  of  the  poor  garment.1 

It  was  in  April,  1207,2  that  Pietro  di  Bernardone's  son  thus 
literally  complied  with  the  words  of  the  gospel,  to  forsake 
everything  and,  taking  up  the  Cross,  to  follow  Jesus.  The 
Umbrian  April  is  equivalent  in  point  of  view  of  the  season 
to  May,  or  better,  June,  in  Denmark.  The  clear  sun  shines 
day  after  day  brightly  from  a  clear  sky.  The  air  is  fresh  and 
healthy,  purified  by  the  many  downpours  of  the  winter's 
rain.  The  roads  are  not  yet  dusty,  but  firm  and  good  to 
travel  over,  and  the  corn  is  growing  under  the  olive  trees, 
bright  green  and  of  half  its  final  height,  sprinkled  with  quan- 
tities of  bright  red  poppies.  It  is  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
Italian  seasons,  far  better  than  the  unhealthy,  torrid,  fever- 
bearing  autumn. 

It  was  on  such  a  sunny  April  morning  that  Pietro  di  Bernar- 
done's son,  clothed  in  the  old  gardener's  cloak,  left  the  Bishop's 
palace  in  Assisi  to  go  out  into  the  world,  like  one  of  those 

1  The  only  one  who  tells  of  this  is  St.  Bonaventure  {Leg.  maj.,  II,  4),  who 
apparently  got  it  from  Brother  Illuminato  of  Rieti,  who  is  responsible  for  many 
other  minor  traits  (See  Appendix). 

2  This  date  seems  to  follow  from  the  following  place  in  Anon.  Perus.  (A 
SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  572,  n.  141) :"  Postquam  impleti  sunt  anni  ab  incarnatione  Domini 
MCCVII  mens  Aprilis,  XVI  kalendas  Maii,  videns  populum  suum  Dominus 
.  .  .  mandatorum  ejus  oblitum  .  .  .  sua  benignissima  misericordia.  motus 
voluit  operarios  mittere  in  messem  suam  et  illuminavit  virum  qui  erat  in  civi- 
tate  Assisii,  nomine  Franciscum."     XVI  kalendas  Maii  is  April  16. 


48  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

evangelic  " Strangers  and  Pilgrims"  the  Scripture  tells  of. 
Every  man's  life  is  the  fruit  of  his  innermost  will,  and  therefore 
Francis  had  attained  that  which  he  so  long  had  striven  for  — 
that  which  he  had  put  to  the  proof  in  Rome,  what  he  had 
prayed  for  in  the  solitude  of  the  Umbrian  cave  —  to  be  allowed 
to  follow  the  naked  and  suffering  Saviour,  himself  naked  and 
suffering. 

Francis  wandered  forth  from  the  home  of  his  youth  and 
from  the  city  of  his  early  days,  from  father  and  mother,  from 
family  and  friends,  from  all  his  past  and  all  his  memories. 
He  went  neither  out  to  San  Damiano,  nor  down  the  plain  to 
Portiuncula's  little  chapel.  There  are  moments  in  the  life  of 
man  when  the  soul  is  drawn  to  the  greatest  things  in  nature's 
gift  —  to  the  mountains  or  to  the  sea.  Francis  wandered 
forth  from  Assisi  by  the  gate  in  the  direction  of  Monte  Subasio, 
on  the  road  which  takes  one  up  the  mountain.  And  remem- 
bering the  words  of  the  gospel,  about  him  who  lays  his  hand 
to  the  plough,  he  certainly  never  looked  back  until  the  towers 
and  roofs  of  Assisi  were  long  out  of  sight  beneath  him  and  he 
found  himself  alone  on  the  heights  of  Monte  Subasio,  — 
in  a  young  oak-woods  or  among  great  barren  fields  of  stone. 
Hence  his  glance  wandered  far  over  the  world;  the  valley  of 
Spoleto,  lay  under  his  feet,  as  if  seen  from  an  air-balloon, 
with  its  white  roads,  bright  rivers,  fields,  with  olive  trees  in 
regular  order,  and  houses  and  churches  like  toys.  The  moun- 
tains, which  below  Assisi  hem  in  the  horizon,  seem  sunken 
down  and  low,  and  behind  them,  higher  ones  of  paler  blue 
lift  up  their  summits  —  the  far-distant  Apennines. 

Francis  had  started  off  in  the  direction  of  Gubbio.  In  this 
village,  which  in  a  straight  line  is  not  very  many  miles  from 
Assisi,  lived  one  of  the  friends  of  his  earliest  youth  —  perhaps 
the  same  friend  who  used  to  go  with  him  to  discover  the 
treasure  in  the  cave.  It  inevitably  takes  time  to  wander 
about  the  mountains;  day  was  already  waning  and  Francis 
had  not  yet  crossed  the  wild  wood-grown  mountain  side  that 
separates  Assisi  from  Valfabbrica.  Still  he  wandered  along 
confidently  and  sang  in  French  the  praises  of  God,  as  he  was 
wont  to  do  in  the  happiest  moments  of  his  life.  Then  there 
was  a  rustling  among  the  dry  leaves  that  spread  the  ground, 


ABANDONMENT     OF    HIS     HOME  49 

the  branches  and  twigs  were  disturbed,  and  a  robber  band 
broke  out  from  concealment  with  a  threatening  "Who  is 
there?"  Undisturbed  Francis  answered:  "I  am  the  herald 
of  the  great  King.  But  what  is  it  that  you  desire?"  The 
highwaymen  looked  for  a  moment  at  the  wonderful  apparition 
in  the  shabby  cloak  with  the  chalk-drawn  cross  on  the  back. 
Then  they  determined  to  let  him  go  without  further  molesta- 
tion, but  so  as  to  let  him  know  what  he  had  escaped,  they 
took  him  by  the  arms  and  legs  and  flung  him  into  a  cleft, 
where  the  snow,  in  spite  of  the  April  sun,  was  still  deep.  "Lie 
there,  you  peasant,  who  wants  to  play  at  being  a  herald!" 
they  said  to  him,  and  departed.  It  was  only  with  difficulty 
that  Francis  managed  to  work  his  way  out  of  the  drift  in  the 
cleft;  singing  the  praises  of  God  as  before,  he  wandered  on 
over  the  mountain.1  After  a  little  space  of  time  he  drew  near 
to  a  little  Benedictine  convent,  where  he  received  shelter  in 
exchange  for  serving  in  the  kitchen.  Here  he  stayed  several 
days  in  the  hope  that  he  would  be  able  to  supplement  his 
scanty  garments  by  a  cast-off  monk's  costume.  They  gave 
him  while  there  hardly  enough  food,  and,  as  his  first  biog- 
rapher says,  "not  actuated  by  anger,  but  driven  by  neces- 
sity," he  went  on  to  Gubbio.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that  the 
prior  of  the  convent  came  to  give  excuses  after  Francis  had 
become  a  celebrity.  But  at  this  time  Francis  was  not  cele- 
brated, and  it  is  also  credible  that  the  good  prior  never 
gave  a  thought  to  his  hard-hearted  inhospitality.  And  yet 
St.  Benedict  in  the  Rule  of  his  Order  commands:  "The 
strangers  shall  be  received  as  Christ."2 

At  last  Francis  reached  Gubbio,  and  there  found  a  friend, 
from  whom  he  received  the  clothing  he  had  wished  for  and 
which  was  the  same  that  hermits  used  to  wear,  with  a  girdle 

1Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  VII.  Julian,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  575,  nn.  160-161. 
Bonav.,  II,  5.  According  to  Lucarelli  (Memoria  e  guida  storica  di  Gubbio,  Citta 
di  Castello,  1888,  p.  583)  the  meeting  of  Francis  and  the  robbers  occurred  near 
Caprignone,  where  are  still  be  to  seen  frescoes  of  the  fourteenth  to  the  fifteenth 
centuries  in  an  old  convent  church.  One  of  these  shows  Francis  clothing  him- 
self in  a  ragged  garment. 

2  Reg.  S.  Benedicti,  cap.  LIII:    "Omnes  supervenientes  hospites  tanquam 

Christus  suscipiantur."  —  A  local  tradition,  which    is  not  incredible,   places 

this  scene  at  the  cloister  of  Sta.  Maria  della  Rocca  (la  Rocchiciuola),  between 

Assisi  and  Valfabbrica.   See  my  book  "Reisebogen"  (2d  ed.,  1905),  pp.  122-123. 

S 


50  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

around  the  body  and  shoes  and  staff.1  Other  friendly  services 
he  did  not  accept,  and  the  biographers  tell  how  Francis  lived 
in  the  hospital  of  Gubbio,  how  he  washed  the  lepers'  feet, 
bound  up  their  sores,  treated  their  boils,  dried  up  the  matter, 
and  often  kissed  the  suppurating  sores.2 

But  meanwhile  Francis'  own  particular  work  awaited  him 
in  San  Damiano  near  Assisi,  and  one  day  he  found  himself 
there  again,  to  begin  the  work  God  had  given  him  to  do  —  to 
restore  the  church  edifice.  During  his  absence  rumors  seem 
to  have  flown  fast,  for  the  priest  was,  it  appears,  anything 
but  glad  to  see  him  again,  and  Francis  had  to  appeal  to  the 
word  of  the  Bishop,  which  affirmed  that  he  had  the  approval 
of  the  authorities  of  the  Church.3 

A  question,  which  never  before  had  occupied  Francis,  now 
presented  itself  to  him  in  all  its  prosaic  obtrusiveness  —  the 
question  of  money.  Where  would  the  money  come  from  with 
which  to  restore  San  Damiano?  If  necessaVy  Francis  could 
handle  the  trowel,  but  stone  and  mortar  could  not  be  had  for 
nothing. 

And  this  last  was  the  very  thing  Francis  undertook  to 
provide  for  —  to  procure  for  nothing  the  required  stone  and 
lime.  Now  he  could  avail  himself  of  what  he  had  learned 
in  his  troubadour  and  jongleur  days.  One  day  men  saw 
Francis  in  his  hermit  robes  in  the  market-place  in  Assisi, 
singing  in  public  like  another  wandering  minstrel.     And  when 

1  "quasi  heremiticum  ferens  habitum,  accinctus  corrigia  et  baculum  manu 
gestans  calceatis  pedibus  incedebat."  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  IX,  and 
Tres  Socii,  VIII,  25.  Giuseppe  Mazzatinti  has  in  Miscellanea  Francescana 
(vol.  V,  pp.  76-78)  maintained  that  the  friend  in  Gubbio  was  Frederico  Spada- 
lunga,  the  oldest  of  three  brothers,  himself,  Giacomello  and  Antonio.  In  the 
time  of  Aroldi  there  were  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Palazzo  dei  Consoli  in  Gubbio, 
frescoes,  whose  subject  was  the  kindness  of  Spadalunga  to  Francis.  In  the 
first  of  these  "si  representa  S.  Francesco  nudo  e  havendo  in  terra  dietro  a  se 
alcuni  stracci,  riceve  una  veste  in  atto  di  ricuoprirsi  da  un  huomo  il  quale  mostra 
di  essere  giovanetto"  (F.  Haroldus:  Epitome  Annalium  Ord.  Min.,  Roma,  1662, 
vol.  I,  p.  29,  quoted  by  Mazzatinti,  loc.  cit).  I  avail  myself  of  this  oppor- 
tunity to  refer  to  the  remarkable  Journal,  named  above,  Miscellanea  Frances- 
cana, which  now  for  a  number  of  years  has  been  published  in  Foligno  by  the 
learned  canon,  Mgr.  Mich.  Faloci-Puligani.  (Unfortunately  this  journal, 
which  is  a  real  gold-mine  for  those  interested  in  our  subject,  is  not  easily  to  be 
found  in  public  libraries.) 

2  Bonav.,  Leg.  major,  cap.  II,  n.  6. 

3  Tres  Socii,  VII,  21. 


ABANDONMENT     OF     HIS     HOME  51 

he  had  ended  his  song,  he  went  around  among  his  auditors 
and  begged.  "He  who  gives  me  a  stone  will  have  his  reward 
in  heaven,"  said  he;  "he  who  gives  me  two  stones  will  have 
two  rewards;  he  who  gives  three  stones  will  receive  three 
rewards."  Many  laughed  at  him,  but  Francis  only  laughed 
back.  Others,  the  legend  tells  us,  "were  moved  to  tears  to 
see  him  converted  from  such  great  worldliness  and  vanity 
to  such  an  intoxication  of  love  to  God."  Francis  actually 
succeeded  in  getting  together  a  quantity  of  stone,  which  he 
carried  away  on  his  own  shoulders.  He  also  did  the  masonry 
work,  and  people  who  went  by  used  to  hear  him  singing  in 
French  as  he  worked.  If  anyone  stopped  to  look  at  him,  he 
would  call  out  to  them:  "You  had  better  come  and  help  me 
to  build  up  St.  Damian's  church  again."1 

Such  zeal  and  self-sacrifice  could  not  fail  to  affect  the  old 
priest  of  San  Damiano's,  and  to  show  Francis  his  appreciation 
he  used  every  evening  to  wait  upon  him  with  one  or  another 
selected  dish,  according  to  his  limited  means.  This  went  on 
very  well  for  a  time,  until  one  fine  day  it  occurred  to  Francis 
to  ask  himself  if  he  ever  would  be  able  on  his  return  to  the 
world  to  be  certain  of  finding  so  attentive  a  host  as  here. 
What  I  am  doing,  said  he  to  himself,  is  not  living  the  life 
of  a  poor  man,  as  I  have  wished  to  do.  No,  a  real  pauper 
goes  from  door  to  door  with  his  bowl  in  his  hand  and  takes 
everything  that  good  men  will  give  him.  And  this  is  what  I 
must  do  from  now  on! 

Scarcely  had  the  midday  bell  rung  in  Assisi  the  next  day, 
and  the  people  were  sitting  at  their  tables,  when  Francis  with 
his  bowl  in  hand  went  on  his  circuit  through  the  city.  He 
knocked  at  all  doors  and  got  something  at  many  of  them  — 
here  a  sup  of  soup,  a  bone  with  a  little  meat  on  it,  a  crust  of 
bread,  some  leaves  of  salad,  all  sorts  of  things  mixed  together. 
When  Francis  had  ended  his  begging  trip  his  bowl  was  full, 
but  of  the  most  unappetizing  mixture  one  could  think  of. 
Lost  in  thought,  the  young  man  sat  on  a  stoop  and  stared 
down  into  the  bowl,  which  seemed  most  like  a  trough  filled 

1  Tres  Socii,  VII,  24.  Th.  of  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  VIII.  By  the 
first  named  of  these  two  biographers  this  invitation  is  made  into  a  prophecy 
referring  to  St.  Clara  and  her  nuns,  who  were  to  build  there  later. 


52  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

with  dog's  meat.  Nearly  vomiting  with  nausea,  he  put  the 
first  bit  to  his  lips. 

And  behold !  —  it  was  just  as  when  he  kissed  the  leper  in 
other  times.  His  heart  was  filled  with  the  sweetness  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  he  never  had  tasted 
such  exquisite  food.  Entranced,  he  rushed  home  and  said  to 
the  priest  that  for  the  future  he  should  do  his  own  providing 
well  enough. 

Thus  was  the  son  of  Pietro  di  Bernardone  become  a  public 
beggar,  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  old,  purse-proud 
merchant,  so  jealous  of  his  honor,  felt  the  blow  even  heavier 
than  any  of  the  preceding  ones.  From  now  on  he  could  not 
bear  to  see  his  son,  but  burst  out  into  wild  curses  when  he  met 
him.  Francis  was  perhaps  not  altogether  insensitive  to  this 
outburst  of  wrath ;  in  any  case,  from  this  time  Francis  used  to 
take  with  him  an  old  beggar  named  Albert  on  these  peregri- 
nations, and  when  they  would  meet  Pietro  di  Bernardone, 
Francis  would  kneel  down  in  front  of  his  companion  and  would 
say:  "Bless  me,  father!"  "See  now,"  he  would  say,  turning 
to  the  old  merchant,  "God  has  given  me  a  father  who  blesses 
me,  in  your  place,  who  curse  me!"1 

Francis'  younger  brother,  Angelo,2  also  shared  in  the  per- 
secution of  the  voluntary  beggar  and  church  builder.  One 
cool  morning  he  saw  Francis,  who  in  his  humble  clothes 
was  hearing  mass,  in  one  of  the  churches  of  Assisi.  Then 
Angelo  said  to  his  companion,  and  so  loud  that  his  brother 
could  hear  him:  "Go  there  and  ask  Francis  if  he  will  not 
sell  you  a  shilling's  worth  of  sweat!"  Francis  heard  it  and 
answered  back  in  French:  "I  have  already  sold  it  at  a  good 
price  to  my  Lord  and  Saviour!" 

Meanwhile  the  work  at  San  Damiano  progressed  rapidly. 
It  was  more  a  putting  to  rights  than  a  rebuilding.3    As  a  sort 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  VII,  n.  23.     Anon.  Perus.,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  577,  n.  167. 

2  The  name  is  preserved  in  old  documents,  printed  in  Cristofani's  Stone 
d' Assisi,  I,  pp.  78  et  seq.  See  Sabatier,  Vie,  p.  2,  n.  2,  together  with  the  family 
tree  copied  from  a  manuscript  of  1381,  which  the  Bollandist  Suysken  gives  in 
the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Oct.  II,  p.  556,  and  Wadding  in  the  Annates,  I,  p.  17. 

3  According  to  Cristofani  (Storia  di  S.  Damiano,  Assisi,  1882,  pp.  50  et  seq.), 
Francis  can  hardly  have  made  any  new  additions  to  the  church.  Henry  Thode, 
on  the  other  hand  ("Franz  v.  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  der  Kunst  der  Renaissance,'" 
Berlin,  1885,  p.  298),  thinks  that  Francis  was  the  builder  of  the  front  pointed 


ABANDONMENT    OF    HIS    HOME  53 

of  conclusion  to  the  work  Francis  wished  to  leave  the  priest 
a  good  supply  of  oil  for  the  altar  lamps,  especially  for  the 
perpetual  lamp  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  went  on  a  round  through  Assisi  to  beg  for  oil,  and  it 
so  happened  that  on  this  occasion  he  came  to  the  house  of 
an  old-time  friend,  just  at  the  height  of  a  festival.  Now  at 
last  his  courage  weakened.  He  who  had  defied  his  father  and 
had  not  feared  the  robbers  on  Monte  Subasio  was  ashamed 
to  be  seen  by  his  old  companions.  Perhaps  he  had  one  of 
those  indescribable,  depressing  moments,  experienced  by  all 
converts,  when  that  which  has  been  left  behind  appears  with 
perfect  clearness  to  be  one  of  the  natural,  right  and  reason- 
able things,  while  the  new  thoughts  and  the  new  life  suddenly 
present  themselves  to  one  as  something  artificial,  acquired, 
stilted — something  one  would  give  anything  to  attain,  but 
which  it  seems  useless  to  strive  after.  Perhaps  the  hermit's 
costume,  which  Francis  in  general  so  willingly  wore,  suddenly 
seemed  to  him  a  laughable  mummery,  and  perhaps  he  seemed 
to  himself  less  of  a  man  than  in  those  days  of  joy,  long  passed, 
when  he  wore  the  parti-colored  costume  of  the  jester. 

If  he  had  been  fighting  his  own  fight  at  this  time,  it  would 
have  lasted  but  a  short  time.  The  legend  tells  us  that  he 
walked  a  few  steps  beyond  the  house  of  festivity,  but  that  he 
despised  his  weakness,  turned  around  and  told  his  friends 
how  weak  he  had  been,  as  he  at  the  same  time  begged  them 
for  charity's  sake  to  give  him  an  alms  for  oil  for  the  lamps 
of  St.  Damian. 

After  he  had  finished  this  work,  Francis  —  so  as  not  to  be 
idle  —  undertook  a  similar  one,  in  repairing  the  old  Bene- 
dictine church  of  St.  Peter,  which  is  now  in  Assisi,  but  then 
was  outside  the  walls.1    And  finally  he  began  the  restoration 

Gothic  portion  of  the  building,  while  the  rear  vaulted  portion  with  the  apse  is 
older.  Thode  calls  attention  to  the  curious  kind  of  pointed  vaulting  which 
Francis  used  not  only  here  in  S.  Damiano,  but  also  in  Portiuncula,  in  la  Chiesina 
in  La  Verna  and  in  one  of  the  Franciscan  retreats  near  Cortona,  and  which 
elswehere  is  only  found  in  the  south  of  France  (ditto,  p.  296). 
I  1  "longius  a  civitate  distantem, "  says  Bonaventure  (II,  7),  who,  however, 
only  knew  Assisi  from  a  short  visit  there.  In  reality  S.  Pietro  was  very  near 
the  city.  It  is  first  mentioned,  according  to  Thode  (ditto,  p.  300),  in  the  year 
1029.  The  facade  dates  back  to  1268.  From  1250  to  1577  it  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  Cistercians,  now  it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Benedictines  again. 


54  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

of  the  little  old  field-chapel,  before  which  he  was  one  day 
found  weeping  over  the  sufferings  of  Christ  —  Portiuncula, 
also  called  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  "  Our  Lady  of  the  Angels." 
Francis  chose  as  his  abode  for  a  longer  time  a  spot  in  the 
vicinity  of  this  little  church,  which,  like  San  Damiano,  belonged 
to  the  Benedictine  convent  on  Monte  Subasio,  and  was  said 
to  have  been  built  by  pilgrims  returning  from  the  Holy  Land 
in  the  year  352. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  he  constantly  regarded  the  restora- 
tion of  churches  as  his  real  vocation  in  life.  Even  so  late  as 
1 2 13  he  founded  a  church  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,1 
and  in  12 16  he  filled  a  not  inconsiderable  role  in  the  renovating 
of  Santa  Maria  del  Vescovado  in  Assisi.2  Like  all  humble 
souls,  he  knew  that  it  is  of  less  importance  what  one  does 
than  how  one  does  it,  and  he  felt  the  call  to  what  Verlaine 
many  years  after  called  la  vie  humble  aux  travaux  ennuyeux 
etfaciles  —  the  humble  life  of  tiresome  and  easy  achievements; 
this  life  which,  precisely  on  account  of  monotony  and  lack  of 
great  things  to  be  done,  exacts  so  much  charity,  so  great  a 
power  of  seeing  God's  eternal  will  back  of  the  whole  mass  of 
small  endless  affairs,  so  as  every  day  to  live  in  the  Sunday's 
spirit. 

rester  gai  quand  le  jour,  triste,  succede  au  jour, 
£tre  fort,  et  s'user  en  circonstances  viles.  .  .  . 

Francis  belonged  to  the  strong  and  cheerful  souls  who  can  do 
this.  He  saw  laid  out  before  him  a  vista  of  his  future  life, 
to  be  spent  in  the  work  of  a  day-laborer  for  little  or  no  coarse 
bread;  he  saw  evenings  of  lonely  prayer,  the  lonely  hearing  of 
mass  in  the  mornings,  and  visits  to  the  altar  in  chapels  and 
churches  by  the  wayside  and  among  the  mountains. 

For  the  mass,  the  liturgical  sacrifice  in  memory  of  the  suffer- 
ings and  death  of  Jesus,  was  already  the  central  point  in 
Francis'  religious  life.  He  writes  of  this,  the  first  year  of  his 
conversion,  in  his  Testament:  "Here  in  the  world  I  see  noth- 
ing of  the  Son  of  the  Highest  God  but  his  most  holy  Body 

1  Wadding  in  the  Annales,  1213,  n.  17. 

2  Lipsin,  Compendiosa  Historia,  Assisi,  1756,  p.  19,  and  Faloci's  studies  of  the 
ancient  inscription  on  the  outside  of  the  choir  of  the  same  church,  in  Misc. 
Franc.,  II,  pp.  33-37. 


ABANDONMENT    OF    HIS     HOME  55 

and  Blood,  and  these  most  sacred  Mysteries  I  will  venerate 
and  honor  above  all  things."1  And  in  one  of  the  oldest  of 
his  Admonitiones,  his  " Admonitions"  to  Brothers  in  his 
Order,  an  accordance  is  found  with  the  above:  "All,  who  have 
seen  Jesus  Christ  in  the  flesh,  but  have  not  seen  him  after  the 
Spirit  and  in  his  Divinity  and  have  not  believed  that  he  was 
really  the  Son  of  God,  are  doomed.  Also  all  those  are  doomed 
who  see  the  sacrament  of  the  Body  of  Christ,  which  is  con- 
secrated with  the  words  of  the  Lord  on  the  altar,  and  by  the 
hand  of  the  priest,  in  the  form  of  bread  and  wine,  but  do  not 
see  it  in  the  Spirit  and  Divinity  and  do  not  believe  that  it 
really  is  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  most  holy  Body  and  Blood."2 

It  was  not  the  general  custom  in  the  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  for  every  Catholic  priest  to  say  mass  daily. 
Only  on  Sundays  or  else  after  a  special  request  and  on  impor- 
tant holidays  was  mass  celebrated.  On  all  such  occasions 
Francis  was  invariably  there  at  the  place,  and  to  please  him 
the  priest  from  San  Damiano  used  often  in  the  mornings  to 
go  down  to  Portiuncula  and  hold  the  divine  service  in  the 
newly  restored  chapel. 

All  who  have  lived  in  Italy  and  have  participated  in  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  people  can  tell  by  experience  of  the 
singularly  impressive  power  of  these  very  early  divine  services. 
Out  of  the  morning's  darkness,  which  perhaps  is  lessened  by 
the  light  of  the  setting  half-moon,  or  by  that  of  a  solitary 
great  star,  shining  far  away  over  the  mountains,  one  walks 
into  the  church,  where  the  lights  cast  their  ruddy  glow  over 
the  altar  table  and  the  priest  in  his  bright  vestments  stands 
at  the  foot  of  the  altar  steps,  makes  the  full  sign  of  the  Cross 
and  solemnly  with  a  low  voice  begins  the  prayers  of  the 
mass  with  David's  wonderful  forty-second  Psalm.  And  the 
responses  of  the  acolyte  are  heard;. the  holy  service  goes  along 
rapidly;  in  the  deep  silence  and  morning  peace  of  the  church 

1  Opuscula  (Quaracchi,  1904),  p.  78. 

2  Admonitio  Prima,  De  Corpore  Christi.  (Quaracchi  edition,  p.  4).  Also 
in  Epistola  prima  (ditto,  p.  91):  "We  may  all  truly  know  that  no  one  can  be 
saved  except  by  the  blood  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  by  the  sacred  words 
of  the  Lord  which  the  clerk  says,"  i.e.,  the  words  of  consecration  in  the  mass. 
See  also  the  same  letter,  p.  95,  where  the  faith  in  and  the  reception  of  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  altar  is  simply  adduced  as  characteristic  of  all  the  good. 


56  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

are  heard  distinctly  the  whispered  words  from  the  priest's  lips: 
" Hoc  est  enim  corpus  rneurn.  .  .  .  Hie  est  enim  calix  sanguinis 
mei"  .  .  .  And  while  the  altar  bell  rings  over  and  over  again 
there  is  raised  high  over  the  bowed  heads  of  the  kneeling  con- 
gregation the  white  Host,  the  shining  Chalice  —  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ  offered  by  the  hands  of  the  priest  as  the 
Lamb  of  God  who  bears  all  the  sins  of  the  world.  In  such 
moments  one  is  lifted  on  mighty  wings  above  oneself,  and  one's 
misery  and  faith  make  themselves  felt,  one  cares  to  hope,  one 
desires  to  love  God  always,  to  do  his  will  and  serve  him  only, 
and  never  more  to  bow  down  to  false  gods. 

On  such  a  morning  in  the  little  chapel  of  Portiuncula,  one 
day  in  February,  1209,  Francis  heard  the  passage  in  the  gospel, 
which  seemed  to  him  a  new  and  clearer  message  from  the  Lord, 
still  clearer  than  the  words  he  had  heard  two  years  before  in 
San  Damiano,  and  which  therefore  remained  effective  for  the 
rest  of  his  life.  It  was  the  feast  of  the  Apostle  St.  Matthias, 
February  24,  on  which  Francis  heard  the  priest  read  the 
following  passage  from  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  (x.  7-13) : 
"At  that  time  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples.  And  going, 
preach,  saying:  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  Heal 
the  sick,  raise  the  dead,  cleanse  the  lepers,  cast  out  devils: 
freely  have  you  received,  freely  give.  Do  not  possess  gold, 
nor  silver,  nor  money,  in  your  purses:  nor  scrip  for  your 
journey,  nor  two  coats,  nor  shoes,  nor  a  staff;  for  the  laborer 
is  worthy  of  his  meat.  And  into  whatsoever  city  or  town  you 
shall  enter,  inquire  who  in  it  is  worthy,  and  there  abide  till 
you  go  thence.  And  when  you  come  into  the  house,  salute  it, 
saying:  Peace  be  to  this  house.  And  if  that  house  be  worthy, 
your  peace  shall  come  upon  it;  but  if  it  be  not  worthy,  your 
peace  shall  return  to  you."  l 

When  Francis  went  back  in  thought  to  that  mass  of  St. 
Matthew  in  Portiuncula,  he  regarded  the  mere  reading  of  the 
gospel  of  the  day  as  a  divine  revelation.  We  read  in  his  Testa- 
ment: "The  Highest  One  himself  revealed  to  me  that  I  should 

1  The  Gospel  of  St.  Matthias'  feast  has  since  been  changed.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  and  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  the  gospel  cited  in  the  text  was  still 
read.  See  Analecta  Franciscana,  vol.  Ill  (Quaracchi,  1897),  p.  2,  n.  5.  It  is 
Wadding  who  follows  Mariano  of  Florence  in  telling  that  the  priest  from 
S.  Damiano  went  to  Portiuncula  and  read  mass  for  Francis. 


ABANDONMENT     OF    HIS    HOME  57 

live  in  accordance  with  the  holy  gospel."  And  again,  "The 
Lord  revealed  to  me  a  salutation  that  we  were  to  say:  The 
Lord  give  thee  peace."  l 

The  biographers  tell  us  that  after  he  had  listened  to  these 
words  and  heard  them  exhaustively  explained  by  the  priest 
he  was  inspired  and  exclaimed,  "  This  is  what  I  want,  this  is 
what  I  with  all  my  soul  want  to  follow  in  my  life ! " 2  As  if  in  a 
vision  he  had  understood  what  the  Lord  asked  of  those  who 
aspire  to  be  his  disciples,  who  would  belong  to  him  completely, 
who  would  sacrifice  themselves  for  him  and  serve  him  alone 
—  that  they  should  be  Apostles,  that  free  from  all  superfluity, 
and  without  the  troubles  of  the  world,  they  were  to  go  out  into 
the  world,  rejoicing  in  spirit,  bearing  the  old,  serious,  joyful 
message,  "Be  you  converted,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
near!"3 

Francis  the  church  builder  and  hermit  was  now  to  become 
Francis  the  apostle  and  evangelist  —  the  announcer  of  the 
gospel  of  conversion  and  peace.  He  had  scarcely  left  the 
church  before  he  took  off  his  shoes,  threw  away  his  staff, 
cast  off  his  outer  garment,  which  he  wore  against  the  cold. 
In  place  of  his  belt  he  tied  a  rope  around  his  waist,  and  clothed 
in  a  long  brown-grey  blouse  of  the  kind  the  peasants  of  the 
region  wore,  with  a  hood  attached  to  go  over  his  head,  he  was 
prepared  to  wander  through  the  world  on  his  naked  feet,  as 
the  Apostles  had  gone,  and  bring  it  his  Master's  peace,  if  they 
wished  to  receive  it. 

1  Opuscula,  pp.  79,  80. 

2  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  IX;  Tres  Socii,  VIII,  25;  Bonav.,  Ill,  1. 
3"regnum  Dei   et  poenitentiam  praedicare,  continuo  exultans  in   spiritu 

Dei."  Celano  ditto,  "pads  et  poenitentiae  legationem  amplectens."  Tres 
Socii,  cap.  X,  n.  39  (in  Boll.),  n.  40  (Foligno  edition). 


BOOK    TWO 

FRANCIS   THE  EVANGELIST 


Pads  et  poenitentiae  legationem 
amplectens. 

Embracing  the  embassy  of  peace 
and  penitence. 

LEGENDA    TRIUM   SOCIORUM 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  FIRST  DISCIPLES 

~T^\RAECO  sum  magni  regis,  "I  am  the  great  King's 

#— '  herald!"  Thus  had  Francis  that  April  day,  in  1207, 
M  answered  the  robbers  in  the  woods  of  Monte  Subasio, 

and  he  had  in  that  ejaculation  given  the  war-cry  and 
motto  for  all  of  his  future  life. 

It  was  after  the  mass  of  St.  Matthias  in  Portiuncula  that  it 
became  clear  to  him  how  this  career  of  herald  should  be  carried 
to  a  conclusion,  and  now  he  wasted  no  time  in  beginning  it. 

From  that  day  on  a  remarkable  sight  was  to  be  seen  in 
Assisi.  Now  here,  now  there  in  the  streets  and  squares  of  the 
city  a  figure  showed  itself,  clad  in  a  peasant's  grey  cloak  of 
undyed  wool,  with  the  hood  drawn  over  the  head  and  a  rope 
around  the  waist.  He  greeted  all  whom  he  met  as  he  went 
along  with  the  words,  "The  Lord  give  you  peace!"  and 
where  he  saw  a  larger  crowd  assemble,  he  went  to  them,  stood 
barefoot  upon  a  flight  of  steps  or  on  a  stone  and  began  to 
pray. 

This  remarkable  man  was  the  son  of  Pietro  di  Bernardone, 
who  thus  began  his  work  as  an  evangelist.  What  he  said  was 
very  simple  and  without  art,  —  it  only  concerned  one  thing, 
namely,  peace  as  the  greatest  good  for  man,  peace  with  God 
by  keeping  his  commandments,  peace  with  man  by  a  right- 
eous conduct,  peace  with  oneself  by  the  testimony  of  a  good 
conscience.1 

The  laughter  which  a  year  before  had  greeted  Francis,  when 
he  made  public  entrance  into  his  native  city,  was  evidently 

1  Tres  Socii,  VIII,  25-26.  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  X.  Bonav.,  Ill,  2.  Julian, 
A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  579,  n.  182.  Test.  S.  Fr.  (Op.,  p.  80).  Compare  P.  Hilarin 
Felder:  Geschichte  der  wissensch.  Studien  im  Franziskanerorden"  Freib.  in 
Br.,  1904,  p.  8,  and  pp.  33-37. 

61 


62  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

stilled  after  the  scene  in  the  Bishop's  palace.  They  listened 
to  him  with  attention,  even  with  reverence.  And  the  words 
which  he  said  were  not  forgotten;  they  fell  like  living  seed 
into  many  a  receptive  mind,  into  many  a  heart  which  with- 
out knowing  it  longed  greatly  to  live  its  life  nearer  to  God. 

Thus  it  was  that  Francis  in  a  little  while  found  disciples. 
As  the  first  we  are  told  of1  "a  pious  and  simple  man  from 
Assisi,"  whose  name  has  not  been  preserved  for  us,  and 
of  whom  history  knows  no  more.  The  first  disciple  known 
to  history  is  therefore  Bernard  of  Quintavalle.2 

Bernard  was  a  merchant  like  Francis  and  apparently  not 
much  older  than  he.  He  did  not  belong  to  Francis'  circle, 
but  followed  his  wonderful  career  only  at  a  distance.  At  the 
outset  —  like  so  many  —  he  had  only  taken  Francis'  conver- 
sion and  church  building  as  a  new  craze  with  him.  But  as 
time  went  on  and  Francis  continued  to  persevere  in  his  way 
of  life,  Bernard's  doubt  turned  into  regard  and  his  wondering 
became  admiration. 

Bernard  certainly  had  led  hitherto  a  perfectly  regular  and 
good  civic  life.  What  seized  him  now  was  the  feeling  which 
Sabatier  has  in  one  place  so  beautifully  called  la  nostalgie 
de  la  saintete  —  homesickness  for  holiness.  The  sacred  fire 
burst  out  within  his  soul  —  the  desire  for  over-sanctification 
which  is  the  innermost  kernel  of  Christianity,  the  longing 
to  give  up  the  thousand  things  with  which  the  soul  vainly 
creates  unrest  and  perturbation  for  itself,  and  to  seek  the 
one  thing  which  satisfies.  There  ripened  in  him  the  deter- 
mination to  follow  Francis  —  to  be  poor  like  him,  wear  his 
habit  and  live  his  life.  The  desire  to  be  satisfied  with  little, 
a  deep,  supernatural  longing,  as  well  as  an  insatiability  that 
never  can  get  enough,  waxed  stronger  and  stronger  within  him. 
But  hitherto  he  had  never  talked  with  Francis  on  the  subject; 
on  the  contrary,  he  found  a  kindred  soul  and  a  confidant  in 
one  of   the  canons  of    the  cathedral  church  of   S.  Rufino, 

Delano,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  X. 

2  Celano,  ditto,  Tres  Socii,  VIII,  27-29.  Bonav.,  Ill,  3.  Anon.  Perus., 
in  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  pp.  580-581,  nn.  187-190. 

Bernard  of  Bessa  is  the  first,  who  in  his  De  Laudibus  b.  Francisci  employs 
Bernard's  title  "of  Quintavalle."  See  the  above  work  in  Analecta  Francis- 
cana,  III  (Quar.,  1897),  p.  667. 


CONTEMPORARY  PORTRAIT  OF 

ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI 

At  the  Sacro  Speco,  Subiaco 


THE     FIRST    DISCIPLES  63 

Pietro  dei  Cattani,  a  layman  who,  in  his  position  of  law- 
counsel  of  the  church,  enjoyed  one  of  its  prebendships.1 

In  later  legends  it  is  told  how  Bernard,  before  he  finally 
enrolled  himself  under  Francis,  tried  to  find  out  by  a  trick 
if  Francis'  piety  was  true  or  assumed.  He  asked  Francis  a 
number  of  times  to  spend  the  night  with  him  —  an  invitation 
which  he,  who  at  this  time  could  hardly  be  said  to  have  any 
fixed  abode,  gladly  accepted.  One  evening,  therefore,  he  asked 
his  guest  into  his  own  sleeping  chamber,  where,  after  the 
custom  in  the  better  class  of  houses,  a  light  was  kept  burning 
all  night.2 

"But  to  hide  .his  holiness,"  thus  it  is  told  in  the  Chronica 
XXIV  generalium  and  in  the  Fioretti,  "St.  Francis  cast  him- 
self on  the  bed,  as  soon  as  he  came  into  the  room,  and  acted  as 
if  he  slept,  and  after  a  while  Bernard  did  the  same,  beginning 
to  snore  strongly,  as  if  in  deep  slumber.  And  St.  Francis, 
who  believed  that  Bernard  really  slept,  arose  from  his  bed 
and  started  to  pray,  while  with  eyes  and  hands  raised  towards 
heaven,  and  with  great  devotion  and  fervor,  he  cried  out: 
'My  God  and  my  All!'  And  thus  he  remained  praying  and 
weeping  greatly  until  morning,  and  repeated  constantly: 
'My  God  and  my  All!'  and  said  nothing  more."3 

That  back  of  this  tale  there  is  concealed  a  real  occur- 
rence is  clear  from  Thomas  of  Celano's  briefer  description: 
"[Bernard]  saw  Francis  praying  at  night,  sleeping  little,  prais- 
ing God  and  his  Mother,  the  Blessed  Virgin."4  As  day 
dawned  Bernard  determined  to  follow  Francis  therefore  irrev- 
ocably. He  laid  before  him  his  wish  in  the  form  of  a 
question  for  solution  in  a  case  of  conscience. 

1  Silvester,  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  disciple,  was  the  first  priest  of  the  order. 
In  Glasberger  is  found  the  comment,  that  Peter  of  Cattani  was  "jurisperitus 
et  canonicus  ecclesiae  S.  Rufini"  {Anal.  Franc,  II,  p.  6). 

2  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  X.  Vita  jr.  Bernardi  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp.  35  et  seq.  It 
says  that  Francis  for  two  years  was  regarded  as  "stultus  et  phantasticus," 
and  that  Bernard  invited  him  to  visit  him  "ut  ejus  fatuitatem  vel  sanctitatem 
posset  melius  explorare." 

Bernard  of  Quintavalle's  house  is  the  present  Palazzo  Sbaraglini  on  the 
Piazza  del  Vescovado  (or  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore)  in  Assisi. 

3  Fioretti,  cap.  II.  Chronica  XXIV  generalium  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  36. 
Actus  beati  Francisci,  ed.  Sabatier  (Paris,  1902),  cap.  I. 

4  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  X. 


64  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

"If  some  one,"  he  said,  "had  received  from  his  master 
property  entrusted  to  his  care,  be  it  much  or  little,  and  had 
had  possession  of  it  for  many  years,  and  now  wanted  to  keep 
it  no  longer,  what  would  be  the  best  way  to  act  in  such  a  case?" 

"Give  it  back  to  him  of  whom  he  had  received  it,"  was 
Francis'  obvious  answer. 

"But,  my  Brother,  the  case  is  this,  that  all  that  I  own  of 
earthly  property  I  have  received  from  my  God  and  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  now  I  want  to  give  it  back  again,  as  it  may 
seem  best  to  you  to  perform  it." 

Then  Francis  said: 

"What  you  tell  me  of,  Lord  Bernard,  is  so  great  and  difficult 
a  work  that  we  will  ask  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  advice 
about  it,  and  pray  him  to  let  us  know  his  will  and  to  teach  us 
how  we  shall  bring  this  intention  to  execution.  We  therefore 
next  morning  will  go  into  the  church  and  read  in  the  Book 
of  Gospels,  what  the  Lord  told  his  disciples  to  do." 

When  the  time  came  Pietro  dei  Cattani  seems  to  have 
reached  his  decision;  in  any  case  the  three  men  went  together 
the  few  paces  across  the  Assisi  market-place  to  the  church  of 
S.  Niccolo,  which  occupied  what  is  now  the  site  of  a  barracks 
of  carabineers.  Here  they  entered  and  prayed  together, 
whereupon  Francis  went  up  to  the  altar  and  took  the  mass- 
book,  opened  it  and  found  the  following  words:  "If  thou 
wilt  be  perfect,  go  sell  what  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor, 
and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven."1  Twice  more  he 
opened  the  book,  and  found  the  first  time:  "If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross, 
and  follow  me,"  and  the  next  time:  "And  he  commanded 
them  that  they  should  take  nothing  for  the  way." 

As  Francis  closed  the  book,  he  turned  himself  towards  the 
two  men,  and  said: 

"Brothers,  this  is  your  life  and  our  rule,  and  not  only  ours, 
but  all  theirs  who  wish  to  live  with  us.  Go  away  therefore 
and  do  that  which  you  have  heard!" 

But  Bernard  of  Quintavalle  arrested  his  steps  on  the  square 
of  the  church  of  San  Giorgio  —  now  the  Piazza  S.  Chiara  — 

1  Matth.  xix.  21.  The  two  next  quotations  are  from  Matth.  xvi.  24,  and 
Mark  vi.  8. 


THE     FIRST     DISCIPLES  65 

and  began  to  distribute  all  his  property  to  the  poor.  And 
Francis  stood  by  his  side  and  praised  God  in  his  heart.  In 
place  of  Pietro  di  Bernardone  he  had  chosen  a  beggar  for  a 
father,  and  now  God  sent  him  a  far  better  brother  than  Angelo. 

While  Bernard  and  Francis  thus  stood  together,  and  Pietro 
dei  Cattani  had  also  gone  in  search  of  his  possessions,  it  hap- 
pened that  a  priest  came  by,  from  whom  Francis  had  bought 
stone  for  the  restoration  of  San  Damiano.  This  priest,  whose 
name  was  Silvester,  had  sold  the  stone  cheap — perhaps  on 
account  of  the  good  object  it  was  to  be  devoted  to.  When  he 
now  saw  so  much  money  given  away,  he  approached  and  said 
to  Francis:  "The  stone  which  you  in  your  time  bought  from 
me,  you  paid  for  only  poorly. "  Incensed  at  the  covetousness 
of  the  priest,  Francis  suddenly  reached  down  into  the  money, 
which  Bernard  had  in  the  lap  of  his  cloak,  and  without  count- 
ing the  amount,  poured  it  out  into  the  priest's  hand  as  he 
asked:  "I  wonder  if  you  are  now  satisfied,  Sir  priest? "  But 
Silvester  thanked  him  coldly  and  went  away. 

As  the  legends  tell,  this  occurrence  was  none  the  less  the 
beginning  of  a  new  life  for  the  avaricious  priest.  He  began 
to  draw  comparisons  between  his  own  avarice  and  the  con- 
tempt for  property  and  gold  shown  by  these  two  young  lay- 
men, and  the  words  "No  one  can  serve  two  masters"  began 
to  ring  like  a  judgment  in  his  soul  over,  the  life  he  had 
hitherto  led;  after  a  further  delay  he  too  had  to  come  to 
Francis,  and  beg  him  to  receive  him  among  the  Brethren.1 

The  three  brothers  and  followers  of  Christ,  after  all  was 
arranged,  left  Assisi  together  and  spent  the  night  in  Portiun- 
cula.  Near  this  church  they  next  erected  a  hut  of  boughs 
plastered  with  mud,  where  they  could  find  a  refuge  for  the 
night  and  pray  in  the  daytime. 

It  was  down  here  also  that  a  young  man  from  Assisi  named 
Giles  (in  Latin  ^Egidius,  in  Italian  Egidio),  eight  days  after 
Bernard's  conversion,  sought  to  join  them.  Naturally  the 
treatment  awarded  to  their  possessions  by  the  rich  Bernard 
and  the  accomplished  lawyer  Pietro  had  excited  the  greatest 
attention  in  the  city  and  was  the  inexhaustible   source  of 

1  Tres  Socii,  VIII,  28-IX,  31.     Fioretti,  cap.  II.     Glassberger,  Anal.  Franc., 
II,  p.  6,  in  which  Bernard's  conversion  is  dated  April  16,  1209. 
6 


66  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

conversation,  as  well  by  day  on  the  market-place  as  by  night 
at  the  fires,  where  were  held  veglia.  On  such  an  evening 
of  gossip  before  the  sparkling  fire  of  juniper  branches  and 
chestnut  embers,  which  in  the  cold  April  evenings  were  neces- 
sary in  Assisi,  Giles  heard  his  family  talk  about  Francis  and 
his  friends.1 

Next  morning  Giles  rose  early,  "  troubled  about  his  salva- 
tion" as  the  old  legends  say.  It  was  April  23,  the  feast 
of  the  martyr  St.  George,  and  the  young  man  betook  him- 
self to  St.  George's  church  to  hear  mass.  Thence  he  took 
the  direct  road  down  to  Portiuncula,  where  he  knew  that 
St.  Francis  would  keep  himself.  At  the  hospital  of  S.  Salva- 
tore  degli  Pareti  the  road  forks,  and  Giles  prayed  God  that 
he  might  select  the  right  one.  His  prayer  was  heard,  for 
after  wandering  about  a  while  he  approached  a  wood  and 
saw  Francis  coming  out  of  it.  Giles  at  once  cast  himself  at 
the  feet  of  Francis  and  begged  to  be  received  into  the  Brother- 
hood. But  Francis  looked  at  Giles'  pious  young  face,  raised 
him  up  and  said: 

" Dearest  brother,  God  has  shown  you  a  wonderful  favor! 
For  if  the  Emperor  were  to  come  to  Assisi  and  wished  to  make 
one  of  the  citizens  his  knight  or  his  chamberlain,  then  would 
the  citizen  be  greatly  rejoiced.  How  much  more  should  you 
rejoice,  whom  God  has  chosen  as  his  true  knight  and  servant 
and  to  maintain  the  holy  evangelical  perfection." 

And  he  took  him  to  the  place  where  the  other  Brothers  were 
keeping  themselves  and  presented  him  to  them  with  these 
words:  "The  Lord  our  God  has  sent  us  a  new  good  Brother. 
Let  us  therefore  rejoice  in  the  Lord  and  eat  together  in 
charity." 

But  after  the  meal  was  ended,  Francis  and  Giles  went  up  to 
Assisi  to  obtain  cloth  for  the  new  Brother's  habit.  On  the 
way  an  old  woman  met  them  and  asked  for  alms.  Then 
Francis  turned  around  towards  Brother  Giles  and  said  to 
him,  as  he  looked  at  him  "with  an  angel's  expression": 

"My  dearest  brother,  let  us  for  God's  sake  give  your  cloak 
to  this  poor  woman!" 

1  Cum  vero  fr.  Aegidius,  adhuc  saecularis  existens,  post  VII  dies,  hoc  cognatis 
suis  narrantibus  audivisset.     Vita  fr.  Aegidii,  Anal.  Franc.,  Ill,  p.  75. 


THE     FIRST    DISCIPLES  67 

And  Brother  Giles  at  once  took  off  his  beautiful  cloak  and 
gave  it  to  the  woman,  and  it  seemed  to  him  —  thus  he  told 
it  afterwards  —  that  this  alms  seemed  to  ascend  to  heaven. 
But  he  himself  felt  in  his  heart  an  inexpressible  joy.1 

There  were  now  four  living  together  in  the  hut  at  Portiun- 
cula.  In  this  first  year  they  had  little  need  for  a  house  and 
home,  for  they  spent  most  of  their  time  in  missionary  trips. 
What  Francis  had  up  to  this  time  done  alone,  the  four  did 
together  or  in  couples.  Thus  Francis  associated  himself 
with  Giles,  whom  he  had  quickly  learned  to  love,  and  whom, 
with  an  expression  borrowed  from  his  reading  of  romance,  he 
called  his  " Knight  of  the  Round  Table,"2  and  with  him 
started  on  a  trip  through  the  near  environs — to  the  Mark  of 
Ancona,  the  region  between  the  Apennines  and  the  Adriatic 
Sea.  On  his  return,  Francis  had  the  happiness  to  receive 
three  new  disciples,  Sabbatino,  Morico,  and  John  —  the  last 
named  acquired  the  title  of  Capella,  "of  the  hat,"  because 
he  was  the  first  to  wear  a  hat  in  violation  of  the  rule  of  the 
order.  All  seven  started  out  again,  and  Francis  now  chose 
Rieti  in  the  Sabine  Mountains  as  the  goal  for  his  mission. 

In  contrast  to  the  regular  ecclesiastical  eloquence,  Francis 
and  his  friends  were  to  the  last  degree  simple  in  their  preach- 
ing. His  sermons  had  more  of  the  flavor  of  exhortations  than 
of  elaborated  discourses  —  they  were  artless  words,  which 
came  from  the  heart  and  went  to  the  heart.  His  preaching 
always  came  back  to  three  points:  fear  God,  love  God,  con- 
vert yourself  from  bad  to  good.  And  when  Francis  was 
through,  Brother  Giles  would  add:  "What  he  says  is  true! 
Listen  to  him  and  do  as  he  says!" 

1  Vita  jr.  Aegidii,  Anal.  Fr.,  Ill,  pp.  74  et  seq.  Vita  dif rate  Egidio  in  most 
editions  of  the  Fioretti.  Vita  beati  fratris  Aegidii  in  Doc.  Antiq.  Franc,  pars  I: 
Scripta  fratis  Leonis,  ed.  Leonardus  Lemmens  (Quaracchi,  1901).  Tres  Socii, 
cap.  IX,  n.  32;  XI,  44  in  fine.  Speculum  perfectionis,  ed.  Sabatier,  cap.  XXXVI. 
Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  X.  Bona  venture,  III,  4-  Vita  Aegidii  in  A.  SS. 
for  April  23; — The  date  of  Giles'  (Latin  ^Egidius)  conversion  is  given  by  most 
authorities  and  is  one  of  the  surest  data  in  Franciscan  chronology.  See  the 
Bollandists  as  above  in  the  introduction  §  2  and  Analec.  Franc,  III,  p.  75,  n.  3. 
Concerning  Brother  Giles'  Biography  as  a  work  of  Brother  Leo,  see  Salimbene: 
Chronica  (Parma  edition),  p.  323,  "cujus  vitam  fr.  Leo,  qui  fuit  unus  de  tribus 
specialibus  sociis  beati  Francisci,  sumcienter  descripsit." 

2  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  78:  "Iste  est  miles  meus  tabulae  rotundae." 


68  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Wherever  they  went,  their  sermons  excited  the  greatest 
attention  in  peasant  circles.  To  some  they  looked  like  wild 
animals.1  Women  ran  away  when  they  saw  them  coming. 
Others  would  speak  to  them,  asking  what  order  they  belonged 
to  and  whence  they  came.  They  answered  that  they  were 
of  no  order,  but  were  only  "men  from  Assisi,  who  lived  a  life 
of  penance."2  But  if  they  were  penitents,  they  were  not  for 
that  reason  shamefaced  —  with  Francis  at  their  head,  who 
sang  in  French,  praised  and  glorified  God  for  his  untiring 
goodness  to  them.  "They  were  able  to  rejoice  so  much," 
says  one  of  the  biographers,  "because  they  had  abandoned 
so  much."  When  they  wandered  in  the  spring  sunshine,  free 
as  the  birds  in  the  sky,  through  the  vineyards  of  the  Mark  of 
Ancona,  they  could  only  thank  the  Almighty  who  had  freed 
them  from  all  the  snares  and  deceits  which  those  who  love 
the  world  are  subject  to  and  suffer  from  so  sadly.3 

Before  sending  out  his  six  disciples,  Francis  had  assembled 
them  in  the  forest  about  him,  near  Portiuncula,  where  they 
were  wont  often  to  pray.4  In  his  own  cheerful  yet  impressive 
manner  he  addressed  them  on  the  subject  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  as  they  were  going  out  to  induce  men  to  despise  the 
world,  to  subdue  their  self-will,  to  discipline  the  body.  "Go 
out,  my  beloved  ones,  and  announce  the  gospel  of  peace  and 
conversion!  Be  patient  in  trouble,  give  to  all  who  insult  you 
an  humble  answer,  bless  them  who  persecute  you,  thank 
those  who  do  you  wrong  and  slander  you,  because  for  all  this 
your  reward  shall  be  great  in  heaven !  And  fear  not  because 
you  are  unlearned  men,  for  you  do  not  speak  by  yourselves, 
but  the  Spirit  of  your  Heavenly  Father  will  speak  through 
you!  You  will  find  some  men  who  are  true,  good  and  peace- 
ful —  they  will  receive  you  and  your  word  with  gladness ! 
Others,  and  these  in  great  number,  you  will  on  the  other  hand 
find  to  be  revilers  of  God  —  they  will  oppose  you  and  speak 
against  you!  Be  therefore  prepared  to  endure  all  things 
patiently!" 

1  Sylvestres  homines.     Tres  Socii,  IX,  n.  37.     Anon.  Perus.,  p.  585a,  n.  211. 
2"Viri  poenitentiales  de  civitate  Assisii  oriundi."     Tres  Socii,  IX,  n.  37. 

3  Anon.  Perus.,  p.  582,  n.  198.  Vita  jr.  Aegidii,  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  76.  Ber- 
nard a  Bessa,  ditto,  p.  671. 

4  Anon.  Perus.,  p.  584b,  n.  208.     Compare  Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  418. 


THE     FIRST    DISCIPLES  69 

After  these  words,  Francis  embraced  them  one  by  one, 
"as  a  mother  her  children,"  blessed  them,  and  gave  them  as  a 
last  aliment  for  the  road  this  extract  from  the  Bible:  "Cast 
thy  care  upon  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  sustain  thee!"1 

Thus  the  disciples  went  out  into  the  world,  travelling  in 
pairs.  And  when  they  came  to  a  church  or  a  cross,  or  merely 
saw  a  church- tower  in  the  distance,  they  bowed  down  in  the 
dust  and  uttered  the  little  prayer  which  Francis  had  taught 
them:  "We  adore  thee,  O  Christ,  here  and  in  all  thy  churches 
over  the  whole  world,  and  we  bless  thee  because  by  thy  holy 
Cross  thou  hast  redeemed  us!"  But  if  they  approached  one 
of  the  small  towns,  which  then  as  now  stood  upon  the  moun- 
tain-tops with  circling  wall  and  towers,  they  directed  their 
steps  in  through  the  city  gates,  and  when  they  were  come  to 
the  market-place  they  stopped  and  began  to  sing  the  song  of 
praise  which  Francis  had  taught  them,  and  which  ran  thus: 

"Fear  and  honor,  praise  and  bless,  give  thanks  and  adore 
the  Lord  God  omnipotent  in  trinity  and  unity,  Father  and 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  Creator  of  all  things.  Do  penance, 
make  fruits  worthy  of  penance,  for  know  that  you  soon  will 
die.  Give,  and  it  will  be  given  unto  you.  Forgive,  and  it 
will  be  forgiven  unto  you.  And  if  you  will  not  have  forgiven 
men  their  sins,  the  Lord  will  not  forgive  you  your  sins.  Con- 
fess all  your  sins.  Blessed  those  who  die  in  penance,  for 
they  will  be  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Woe  to  those  who 
do  not  die  in  penance,  for  they  will  be  the  sons  of  the  Devil, 
whose  works  they  do,  and  will  go  into  eternal  fire.  Beware 
and  abstain  from  all  evil  and  persevere  up  to  the  end  in  good."2 

The  Brothers  soon  had  need  of  the  warning  to  be  patient, 
which  Francis  had  given  them  for  use  on  their  journeyings. 
Many  regarded  them  as  weak-minded,  and  in  the  heartless 
way  of  the  times  derided  them  and  threw  the  dirt  of  the 
street  upon  them.  Others  robbed  them  of  their  clothing, 
and  like  good  men  of  the  gospel  the  Brothers  made  no  resist- 
ance,  but   went   their   way  half-naked.     Others   seized   the 

1  Celano,  V.,pr.  I,  XII.  TresSociiX,  36.  Julian,  p.  583,  n.  204.  Bonav., 
Ill,  7.  —  Psalms,  liv.  23. 

2  Reg.  I,  cap.  XXI.  "De  laude  et  exhortatione,  quam  possunt  facere  fratres." 
(Opuscula,  pp.  50-51.) 


70  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Brothers  by  the  cowls  and  carried  them  on  their  backs  as  if 
they  were  meal-sacks.  Others  came  to  them  with  dice,  stuck 
them  in  their  hands,  and  asked  them  to  gamble.  Some  others 
took  them  for  thieves  and  wanted  to  refuse  them  shelter  for 
the  night,  so  that  the  Brothers  often  had  to  sleep  in  caves, 
cellars  or  porches  of  houses  or  churches.1 

Together  with  an  associate  —  the  latter,  according  to 
Thomas  of  Celano,  was  Brother  Giles  —  Bernard  of  Quinta- 
valle  went  northwards  and  reached  Florence.  Here  they  for  a 
long  time  travelled  about  the  city,  vainly  seeking  refuge  for 
the  night;  at  last  they  found  a  porch  outside  of  a  house,  and 
now  they  thought  that  they  might  rest  at  last.  They  knocked 
and  got  permission  from  the  woman  of  the  house  to  spend 
the  night  in  the  shelter  of  some  wood-sheds  that  stood 
there. 

Scarcely  had  this  been  arranged  for,  when  the  master  of 
the  house  came  home,  and  started  to  quarrel  with  his  wife 
about  her  rather  moderate  hospitality.  She  managed  to 
pacify  him  to  such  an  extent  that  they  got  permission  to 
stay  —  "they  can  steal  nothing  but  a  little  of  the  firewood 
down  there,"  she  remonstrated  with  him.  But  a  rug  she  had 
intended  to  lend  the  two  wanderers  she  was  not  allowed  to  give 
them,  although  it  was  winter  time  and  the  night  was  cold. 

After  but  a  poor  sleep,  Bernard  and  his  companion  left 
their  inhospitable  host  early  in  the  morning,  overcome  by 
cold  and  hunger,  and  betook  themselves  to  the  nearest  church 
as  soon  as  the  bell  rang  for  eight  o'clock  service. 

Their  hostess  found  herself  soon  after  in  the  same  church, 
and  as  she  saw  the  Brothers  praying  so  piously,  she  thought 
to  herself:  "If  these  men  had  been  thieves  or  robbers  they 
would  not  have  been  here  now  and  taken  so  devout  a  part  in 
the  divine  service."     While  the  woman  was  occupied  with 

1  Tres  Socii,  n.  37-39.  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  XV.  Vita  di  frate  Egidio,  cap.  II: 
"fu  chiamato  da  uno  uomo  a  cui  egli  andd  pure  assai  volentieri,  credendo  avere 
da  lui  qualche  limosina:  e  distendendo  la  mano,  gli  puose  in  mano  un  paio  di 
dadi,  invitandolo  se  volea  giucare.  Frate  Egidio  rispuose  molto  umilmente: 
Iddio  te  lo  perdoni,  figliuolo."  Actus,  cap.  IV:  " Et  quidam  trahebant  capu- 
tium  retro,  quidam  ante,  quidam  vero  pulverem,  quidam  vero  lapides  jactabant 
in  eum.  ...  Ad  cuncta  vero  opprobria  frater  Bernardus  gaudens  et  patiens 
permanebat." 

Sometimes  they  slept  in  deserted  churches  (Anon.  Perus.,  584,  n.  210). 


THE     FIRST     DISCIPLES  71 

these  thoughts,  she  saw  a  man  named  Guido  enter,  who  every 
morning  went  to  the  church  to  give  alms  to  the  poor  beggars 
who  gathered  together  there.  On  his  rounds  he  came  to 
Bernard  and  his  companion,  but  they  refused  to  take  anything. 
Guido,  astonished,  asked:  "Are  you  not  paupers  like  the 
others,  that  you  will  take  nothing?"  Bernard  answered: 
"Certainly  we  are  paupers,  but  poverty  is  no  burden  to  us, 
for  in  our  case  it  is  voluntary,  and  it  is  in  obedience  to  the 
will  of  God  that  we  are  poor."  Still  more  astonished,  Guido 
asked  them  other  questions,  and  ascertained  that  Bernard 
had  been  a  very  wealthy  man,  but  had  given  everything  away 
so  as  to  be  able  without  disturbance  to  preach  the  gospel  of 
peace  and  conversion. 

At  this  moment  the  woman,  in  front  of  whose  house  the 
Brothers  had  spent  the  night,  joined  in  the  conversation. 
Bernard's  refusal  of  money  from  Guido  had  convinced  her  of 
the  utter  injustice  she  had  done  the  two  strangers.  li Chris- 
Hani!"  she  now  said,  using  a  mode  of  address  still  common  in 
Italy.  "You  Christian  men,  if  you  will  return  to  my  house, 
I  will  gladly  receive  you  under  my  roof!"  But  when  Guido 
now  heard  how  no  one  the  night  before  had  been  willing  to 
receive  them,  he  at  once  offered  them  hospitality,  and  thank- 
ing the  woman  who  had  come  to  a  better  state  of  mind,  the 
Brothers  accepted  the  last  offer.1 

As  before  mentioned,  Francis  had  chosen  Rieti  as  his  own 
mission  district  for  this  time.  From  Terni  he  followed  the 
course  of  the  river  Velino,  which  brought  him  through  a  whole 
series  of  larger  or  smaller  towns  —  Stroncone,  Cantalice, 
Poggio  Bustone,  Greccio.  Everywhere  he  found  —  as  the 
legends  tell  us  —  the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  God  almost 
vanished,  and  the  way  of  penitence  untrod  and  despised.2 
The  broad  way,  the  way  of  the  world,  the  way  the  three  evil 
lusts  urge  men  along,  were  thickly  frequented  —  the  lust  of 
the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  the  world  had 
almost  unlimited  sway.     To  "block  the  wrong  and  endless 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  X.  Anon.  Perus.,  p.  585,  nn.  212-213.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  two  Brothers  on  this  trip  got  as  far  as  the  celebrated  place 
of  pilgrimage  S.  Jago  di  Compostella.  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  XII.  Vita  Egidii, 
A.SS.,  April  23,  p.  222.     Fioretti,  cap.  IV. 

2  Tres  Socii,  n.  34. 


72  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

way  of  lust"1  was  therefore  everywhere  the  principal  task  for 
Francis.  At  the  present  time,  in  the  valley  of  Rieti,  the  great 
saint's  preaching  in  those  early  days  is  regarded  as  an  evangel- 
ization in  the  proper  signification  of  this  word  —  a  conversion 
from  heathenism  to  Christianity.2 

It  was  while  engaged  in  this  work  that  Francis,  according 
to  his  biographers,  was  made  certain  of  the  forgiveness  of  his 
sins,  the  certainty  of  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  carry  out  the  work  which  he  was  to  do. 

Five  hundred  metres  high  in  the  mountain  above  the  town 
of  Poggio  Bustone  and  a  thousand  metres  above  the  plain, 
there  is  a  cave,  to  which  Francis,  true  to  his  Assisi  habits, 
was  wont  to  betake  himself  for  prayer.  Here  in  the  great 
loneliness  and  dead  silence,  where  only  a  single  bird  twittered, 
and  a  mountain  brook  gurgled,  Francis  knelt  long  hours 
together  on  the  hard  stone  under  the  naked  cliff.  And  if  we 
wish  to  really  understand  Francis,  we  must  follow  him  to  this 
mountain  cave. 

There  had  been,  and  was  still,  the  hermit  as  well  as  evangel- 
ist and  missionary  in  his  make-up,  and  wherever  he  has  set 
his  feet  are  found  these  grottoes  and  caves,  these  eremi  and 
ritiri,  to  which  he  was  accustomed  from  time  to  time  to  with- 
draw himself.  Carceri  at  Assisi,  St.  Urbano  at  Narni,  Fonte 
Colombo  at  Rieti,  Monte  Casale  at  Borgo  San  Sepolcro, 
Celle  at  Cortona,  le  Coste  at  Nottiano,  Soteano  at  Chiusi, 
La  Verna  in  the  valley  of  Casentino,  give  widespread  testimony 
that  the  spirit  which  inspired  Francis  of  Assisi  was  none 
other  than  that  which,  in  the  latest  of  the  olden  days,  had 
inspired  Benedict  of  Nurcia,  and  the  same  which  later,  in  the 
first  of  the  modern  days,  was  to  inspire  Ignatius  of  Loyola. 
Francis  in  Poggio  Bustone  or  by  Fonte  Colombo  is  a  side 
piece  to  Benedict  in  Sagro  Speco  by  Subiaco,  to  Ignatius 
Loyola  in  the  cave  at  Manresa.  To  all  of  them  applies  the 
same  twofold  exhortation:  "Pray  and  work,"  or  a  et  labor  a  — 
all  three  strove  in  the  midst  of  the  industry  of  Martha  to 
have  the  devotion  of  Mary. 

1  "erroneam  et  interminam  cupiditatis  viam."  Julian  Speier,  A.  SS., 
Oct.  II,  p.  583,  n.  204. 

2  Johannes  Jorgensen:  "  Pilgrimsbogen"  p.  141. 


THE     FIRST     DISCIPLES  73 

And  in  the  cave  at  Poggio  Bustone,  Francis  tried  to  have 
such  an  hour  as  that  of  Mary  at  the  feet  of  the  Crucified  One. 
Perhaps  he  had  already  uttered  the  prayer  which  is  first 
revealed  to  us  in  the  later  hours  of  his  life,  and  which  in  all 
its  comprehensive  conciseness  is  given  here:  "Who  art  thou, 
my  dear  Lord  and  God,  and  who  am  I,  thy  miserable  worm  of 
a  servant?  My  dearest  Lord,  I  want  to  love  thee!  My  Lord 
and  my  God,  I  give  thee  my  heart  and  my  body,  and  would 
wish,  if  I  only  knew  how,  to  do  still  more  for  the  love  of 
thee!" 

In  any  case  there  was  a  double  abyss  (as  Angela  of  Foligno 
has  called  it)  which  in  these  hours  of  lonely  prayer  yawned 
in  front  of  Francis  —  the  Divine  Being's  abyss  of  goodness 
and  light,  and  opposed  to  it  his  own  abyss  of  sin  and  darkness. 
For  who  was  he  that  he  dared  to  be  the  finger-post  for  man- 
kind and  the  master  of  disciples,  he  who  only  a  few  years  ago 
had  been  a  child  of  the  world  among  children  of  the  world,  a 
sinner  among  sinners?  Who  was  he  who  dared  to  preach 
to  others,  to  warn  others,  to  guide  others  —  he  who  was  not 
worthy  to  take  the  holy  and  pure  name  of  Jesus  Christ  into 
his  impure  mortal  mouth?  Then  he  thought  of  what  he  had 
been,  of  what  he  yet  might  be  if  God  did  not  stand  by  him, 
for  that  danger  was  always  within  his  nature  —  when  he 
thought  next  of  what  others  thought  of  him,  some  who  hon- 
ored him,  some  who  followed  him,  some  who  hated  him,  it 
was  then  he  knew  not  where  to  hide  himself  for  very  shame, 
and  the  words  of  the  Apostle  rang  in  his  ears:  "Lest  per- 
haps, when  I  have  preached  to  others,  I  myself  should 
become  a  castaway." 

Thus  humility  raged  in  his  soul  like  a  lion  that  leaves 
nothing  of  his  prey,  but  grinds  the  bones  for  the  marrow. 
And  all  torn  asunder,  all  annihilated,  Francis  cast  himself 
on  his  face  before  God,  the  God  who  had  made  heaven  and 
earth,  the  God  who  is  all  truth  and  all  holiness,  and  before 
whose  omnipotence  nothing  can  stand  without  complete 
truth,  complete  holiness.  Francis  looked  into  the  depths  of 
his  being,  and  he  saw  that  on  the  whole  earth  there  was  not 
to  be  found  a  more  useless  creature,  a  greater  sinner,  a  soul 
more  lost  and  fallen  to  the  bad  than  himself,  and  from  the 


74  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

depths  of  his  need  he  groaned  before  God:  "Lord,  be  merciful 
to  me  a  poor  sinner!" 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  empty  cave  over  Poggio 
Bustone  beheld  a  miracle,  one  that  always  happens  when  a 
soul  in  complete  distrust  of  itself  calls  out  to  its  God  in  confi- 
dence and  hope  and  charity  —  then  there  comes  to  pass  the 
great  miracle  of  justification.  "I  fear  everything  from  my 
badness,  but  from  thy  goodness  I  also  hope  for  all,"  this  was 
the  innermost  meaning  of  the  prayer  Francis  sent  up  to  God. 
And  the  answer  came,  as  it  always  comes  —  "Fear  not,  my 
son,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee!" 

From  this  hour  Francis  was  fully  armed  for  the  things  that 
awaited  him  —  he  was  drawn  into  the  heart  of  Christianity. 
Because  he  had  abandoned  everything,  he  was  to  win  every- 
thing. For  not  only  had  he  given  up  father  and  mother,  house 
and  home,  property  and  money,  but  what  means  more  than 
all  else,  if  God  was  to  belong  to  him  and  he  to  God  —  he 
had  given  up  himself.  All  his  righteousness  from  now  on 
was  that  which  the  Apostle  says  is  given  by  Christ  to  the 
faithful  —  and  his  life  in  holiness  breathed  out  this  righteous- 
ness. Therefore  it  is  true,  with  a  deeper  truth  than  that  of 
history,  what  the  Fioretti  relates  in  the  tenth  chapter: 

"But  one  day  Brother  Masseo  from  Marignano  said  to 
St.  Francis:  'I  wonder  why  the  whole  world  runs  after  thee 
more  than  after  others,  and  all  men  want  to  see  thee  and  hear 
thee  and  obey  thee?  Thou  art  not  fair  of  body,  thou  art 
not  deeply  learned,  thou  art  not  of  noble  birth  —  why  does 
the  whole  world  run  after  thee?' 

"When  St.  Francis  heard  this  he  rejoiced  in  his  soul  and 
turned  his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  stood  a  long  time  thus,  with 
soul  lifted  up  to  God;  and  when  he  came  to  himself  he  kneeled 
down  and  gave  thanks  and  praise  to  God,  and  turned  to 
Brother  Masseo  and  said  to  him  with  great  spiritual  power: 
'Do  you  wish  to  know  why  this  happens  to  me?  Do  you 
wish  to  know  why  the  whole  world  runs  after  me?  For  I 
knew  that  thing  from  the  all-seeing  God,  whose  eyes  see  the 
good  and  the  bad  over  all  the  earth.  For  these  most  holy 
eyes  have  nowhere  seen  a  greater,  more  miserable,  poorer 
sinner  than  I;  because  in  all  the  earth  he  has  found  no  more 


THE     FIRST    DISCIPLES  75 

wretched  being  to  do  his  wonderful  work,  which  he  wishes  to 
have  done,  therefore  he  has  chosen  me,  so  as  thus  to  put  to 
shame  the  noble,  the  great,  strength  and  beauty,  worldly 
wisdom,  that  all  may  know  that  all  power  and  all  virtue 
come  from  him  and  not  from  creatures,  and  that  no  one  can 
exalt  himself  before  his  face;  but  he  who  praises  himself, 
let  him  praise  himself  in  the  Lord,  for  his  is  the  honor  and  the 
power  for  ever  and  ever."  * 

1  Fioretti,  cap.  X.  Actus  b.  Francisci  capp.  IX-X.  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I, 
cap.  XI.  Julian,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  583,  n.  203:  ("usque  ad  quadrantem 
novissimum  remissionis  debiti  culparum  certitudo,"  —  a  version  not  found  in 
the  other  biographies.  Bonaventure,  III,  6.  Wadding,  1209,  n.  24,  with  the 
following  parallel  from  St.  Bridget's  Revelationes  (VII,  20):  [Franciscus]  "ob- 
tinuit  veram  contritionem  omnium  peccatorum  suorum  et  perfectam  volunta- 
tem  se  emendandi  dicens:  Nihil  est  in  hoc  mundo,  quod  non  volo  libenter 
dimittere  propter  amorem  et  honorem  Domini  mei  Jesu  Christi;  nihil  est  etiam 
tarn  durum  in  hac  vita,  quod  non  volo  gratanter  sustinere  propter  ejus  caritatem, 
faciendo  propter  ejus  honorem  omnia  quae  ego  potero  juxta  meas  vires  corporis 
et  animae;  et  omnes  alios  quoscumque  potero,  volo  ad  hoc  inducere  et  roborare, 
ut  Deum  super  omnia  diligant  toto  corde." 

We  see  with  what  clearness  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  defined  by  the  Swedish 
saint  as  synonymous  with  the  beginning  of  a  new  life,  the  acceptation  of  a  perfect 
will  to  do  good,  Inspiratio  amoris.  A  complete  description  of  Poggio  Bustone 
is  given  in  my  (the  author's)  Pilgrimsbogen,  cap.  XIII. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF   THE  ORDER 

FRANCIS  found  himself  one  day  in  Bishop  Guido's 
private  room.  As  was  customary  with  him,  he  had 
gone  to  the  man  he  regarded  as  "the  father  of  souls"  l 
to  get  advice  — perhaps  also  to  pray  for  alms.  It  was 
a  period  of  hard  times  for  the  Brotherhood.  After  the  return 
from  the  mission  journeys,  four  new  Brothers  had  joined  the 
ranks  —  Philipp  Lungo,  John  of  San  Costanzo,  Barbarus, 
and  Bernard  of  Vigilanzio.  Francis  himself  had  brought  a 
fifth  new  Brother  with  him  from  Rieti  —  Angelo  Tancredi, 
a  young  knight  whom  Francis  had  met  in  the  streets  of 
Rieti,  and  whom  he  had  won  by  suddenly  calling  out  to  him : 
"Long  enough  hast  thou  borne  the  belt,  the  sword  and  the 
spurs!  The  time  has  now  come  for  you  to  change  the  belt 
for  a  rope,  the  sword  for  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  spurs 
for  the  dust  and  dirt  of  the  road !  Follow  me  and  I  will  make 
you  a  knight  in  the  army  of  Christ!"2 

Thus  it  was  that  there  were  no  longer  so  few  men  to  have 
food  daily.  In  the  beginning  the  people  of  Assisi  had  been 
seized  with  a  kind  of  wonder,  and  the  Brothers  had  got  con- 
siderable alms  as  they  went  from  door  to  door.  Now  people 
began  to  grow  weary  of  them;  now  the  relatives  of  the 
Brothers  were  ready  to  persecute  them.  "You  have  given 
away  what  you  had,  and  now  you  come  and  want  to  eat  up 
other  people's  things!" 

As  their  number  increased  they  went  from  the  hut  at 
Portiuncula  to  a  tumble-down  outhouse  or  shed  some  twenty 

1  Tres  Socii,  VI,  19:  "pater  et  dominus  animarum." 

2  Wadding,  Annates,  T.  I.,  p.  80  (1210).  The  narration  was  first  found  in  the 
rather  unreliable  work,  Actus  b.  Francisci  in  valle  Reatina.  Compare  A.  SS.t 
Oct.  II,  p.  589,  n.  231. 

76 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  77 

minutes  distant,  in  a  place  which  because  of  its  vicinity  to  a 
bend  in  a  little  stream  was  called  Rivo  Torto  (crooked  stream). 
Here  the  Crucigers  from  S.  Salvatore  delle  Pared  owned  a 
few  small  buildings,  and  as  one  of  the  newly  accepted  Fran- 
ciscans had  been  a  member  of  this  order,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  Francis  by  his  intercession  had  obtained  the 
right  to  use  this  new  abode.1 

This  shed  or  tigurium  at  Rivo  Torto  was  so  small  that 
Francis  had  to  write  on  the  beams  the  name  of  each  Brother 
over  his  place,  so  as  to  avoid  all  disorder  or  confusion.2  There 
was  no  church  or  chapel  there;  the  Brothers  prayed  before  a 
large  wooden  cross  which  was  erected  in  front  of  the  shed.3 
Francis  for  his  part  had  nothing  against  so  great  poverty. 
He  really  liked  Rivo  Torto,  because  by  following  the  course 
of  the  river  he  could  easily  reach  some  caves  on  Monte  Suba- 
sio,  where  it  was  good  to  pray,  and  which  Francis  because 
of  their  narrowness  called  his  "prisons"  (carceri). 

All  this  excited  much  talk  in  Assisi,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
and  the  Bishop  showed  good  judgment.  He  tried  by  gentle- 
ness to  draw  Francis  away  from  the  ideas  which  to  the 
prelate  of  the  church  seemed  extravagant.  Little  was  the 
amount  which  the  Brothers  permitted  themselves  to  own, 
but  he  only  allowed  himself  so  much  as  was  needed  to  ensure 
his  daily  bread.  To  the  Bishop,  as  to  all  men  living  an  ordi- 
nary life,  the  begging  was  particularly  repulsive. 

But  Francis  was  immovable  in  this  point.  Just  as  Tolstoy 
has  clearly  seen  it  in  the  nineteenth  century,  so  he  saw  what 
a  hindrance  is  removed  from  the  way  when  money  and  pos- 
sessions are  given  up.     "Lord  Bishop,''  he  therefore  replied, 

1  Bonaventure  tells  (IV,  8)  that  Morico  had  long  lain  dangerously  sick  in 
S.  Salvatore  delle  Pareti,  and  that  Francis  healed  him  by  sending  him  a  piece 
of  bread  dipped  in  oil  of  the  lamp  which  burned  before  the  altar  of  Our  Lady  in 
Portiuncula.  From  gratitude  Morico  followed  Francis  thereafter  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  extreme  penances  (he  lived  on  raw  green  vegetables  for 
years,  never  tasted  bread  nor  wine,  etc.)-  —  There  are  still  two  small  chapels 
remaining  of  the  original  Rivo  Torto:  S.  Rufino  d'Arce  and  S.  Maria  Madda- 
lena,  nearer  to  Portiuncula  than  the  large  Franciscan  church  erected  later, 
which  now  has  the  old  name.  See  Lo  Specchio  di  perfezione  (Assisi,  1889),  p. 
39,  n.  9. 

2  Tres  Socii,  XIII,  53.     Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  XVI. 

3  Bonav.,  IV,  3. 


78  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

"if  we  had  possessions  we  should  have  to  have  weapons  with 
which  to  defend  them.  For  from  property  comes  strife  with 
our  neighbors  and  relatives,  so  that  charity  to  God  and  to 
men  suffers  many  a  scar,  and  in  order  to  preserve  it  whole 
and  unimpaired,  it  is  our  firm  determination  to  own  nothing 
in  this  world."  * 

The  Bishop,  who  himself  was  not  clear  of  property  dis- 
putes, for  he  was  involved  in  a  suit  with  both  the  Crucigers 
and  with  the  Benedictines  on  Monte  Subasio,2  bowed  his 
head  and  was  silent.  Even  if  he  could  not  mount  to  the 
height  of  such  an  ideal,  he  did  not  dare  to  hinder  or  restrain 
them  in  carrying  it  out. 

Moreover,  begging  was  not  the  only  or  even  principal 
resource  of  the  Brothers.  Francis  himself  says  in  his  Testa- 
ment about   these   early   times: 

"And  after  the  Lord  had  given  me  Brothers,  no  one  showed 
me  what  I  was  to  do.  But  the  Highest  revealed  to  me  that 
I  was  to  live  after  the  holy  gospel.  .  .  .  And  they  who 
came  to  me  and  accepted  this  way  of  life  gave  all  they  pos- 
sessed to  the  poor,  and  were  satisfied  with  a  tunic,  patched 
both  inside  and  outside  if  they  wished  it,  and  a  rope  and 
breeches.     And  we  wanted  nothing  more. 

"We  said  the  Office,  those  of  us  who  were  clerks,  like  other 
clerks,  but  the  lay-people  said  the  'Our  Father,'  and  we  liked 
to  be  in  the  churches.  And  we  were  simple  (idiotae)  and 
subject  to  all  men.  And  I  worked  with  my  hands,  and  more- 
over wanted  to  work,  and  I  desired  that  all  the  other  Brothers 
should  be  occupied  with  honorable  work.  And  those  who 
could  do  no  work  must  learn  it,  not  for  the  desire  of  remunera- 
tion, but  to  give  good  example  and  not  to  be  lazy.  And  if 
they  will  not  give  us  pay  for  our  work,  we  must  have  recourse 
to  the  table  which  the  Lord  has  spread,  as  we  go  from  door  to 
door  and  beg  for  alms."  3 

We  have  in  these  few  words  from  Francis'  own  hand  the 
entire  programme  of  the  life  they  led  at  Portiuncula  and  in 

1  Tres  Socii,  IX,  35. 

2  See  Opera  Honorii  III,  ed.  Horoy,  t.  I,  col.  200  and  col.  163,  and  Potthast's 
Regesta,  Nr.  7746  and  Nr.  7728.     Sabatier,  Vie,  p.  92,  n.  1. 

3  Opuscula,  p.  79. 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  79 

the  shed  at  Rivo  Tor  to.  What  Francis  desired  was  what 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  desired  —  that  men  should  own  as  little  as 
possible,  that  they  should  work  with  their  hands  for  their 
food,  and  ask  others  for  help  when  work  failed  them,  that 
they  should  not  give  themselves  unnecessary  troubles  and  lay 
up  superfluous  possessions,  that  they  should  keep  themselves 
free  as  birds  and  not  let  themselves  be  caught  in  the  snares 
of  the  world,  that  they  should  go  through  life  with  thanks 
to  God  for  his  gifts  and  with  songs  of  praise  for  the  beauty 
of  his  works.  "Like  strangers  and  like  pilgrims,"  these  words 
of  an  Apostle  return  over  and  over  again  to  the  mouth  of 
Francis,  when  he  wants  to  express  his  ideal.  "He  wished," 
says  one  of  his  biographers,  "that  all  things  should  sing 
pilgrimage  and  exile."  1 

The  following  by-laws  and  admonitions  in  the  first  Rule 
which  Francis  wrote  for  the  Brothers  are  in  accord  with  this: 

"No  Brother  who  works  or  serves  in  another's  house  can  be 
treasurer  or  secretary  or  have  any  authoritative  position  .  .  . 
but  they  must  be  lowly  (sint  minores)  and  subject  to  all  in  the 
house.  And  the  Brothers  who  can  do  one  kind  of  work 
should  work  and  practise  the  art  they  have  learnt,  if  it  does 
not  interfere  with  their  soul's  salvation  or  is  not  dishonorable. 
.  .  .  For  the  Apostle  says:  'If  any  man  will  not  work, 
neither  let  him  eat!'  and:  'Let  every  man  abide  in  the  same 
calling  in  which  he  was  called!' 

"And  they  can  receive  for  their  work  whatever  is  neces- 
sary, but  not  money.  And  should  that  be  needed,  they  must 
go  out  begging  like  the  other  Brothers.  And  they  have 
permission  to  own  tools  and  utensils  which  they  need  .  .  . 
(cap.  VII). 

"The  Lord  teaches  us  in  the  gospel:  'Watch  ye,  that  your 
hearts  be  not  troubled  with  avarice  and  with  care  for  your 
nourishment!'  Therefore  none  of  the  Brothers,  wherever 
he  may  go,  and  wherever  he  may  be,  may  receive  in  any  way 
or  permit  money  to  be  received,  either  for  clothing  or  for 

iaNon  solum  domorum  arrogantiam  odiebat  homo  iste,  verum  domorum 
utensilia  multa  et  exquisita  plurimum  perhorrebat.  Nihil  in  mensis,  nihil 
in  vasis,  quo  mundi  recordaretur,  amabat,  ut  omnia  peregrinationem,  omnia 
cantarent  exilium."    Thomas  of  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  p.  Ill,  cap.  VI. 


80  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

books  or  as  wages  for  work,  or  for  any  other  reason,  except 
when  a  Brother  is  sick  and  calls  for  help.  For  we  ought  not 
to  care  for  or  to  look  on  money  as  of  more  worth  than  a  stone. 
.  Let  us  therefore  beware  lest  we,  who  have  abandoned 
all,  shall  lose  heaven  for  so  small  a  thing.  And  if  we  find 
money  anywhere,  let  us  not  then  be  more  concerned  about 
it  than  if  it  was  dust  that  we  tread  in.  .  .  .  Yet  the  Broth- 
ers if  the  lepers  are  in  need  can  collect  money  for  them,  but 
must  be  greatly  on  their  guard  against  money  (cap.  VIII). 

"All  Brothers  must  try  to  follow  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ's 
humility  and  poverty,  and  remember  the  Apostle's  words, 
that,  when  we  have  food  and  clothes,  we  should  be  content 
with  them.  And  the  Brothers  should  rejoice  when  they  are 
among  humble  and  despised  people,  among  poor  and  weak- 
lings, sick  and  lepers  and  beggars  on  the  road.  And  if  it  is 
necessary,  they  may  go  and  beg  for  alms.  And  they  should 
not  be  ashamed,  but  remember  that  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  Almighty  God,  made  his  face  as  hard  as 
stone  and  was  not  ashamed;  and  he  was  poor  and  a  stranger 
and  lived  on  alms,  both  he  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  his 
disciples.  And  when  men  cause  shame  to  the  Brothers  and 
will  not  give  them  alms,  then  they  shall  thank  God  therefor 
.  .  .  and  they  shall  know  that  the  shame  is  not  counted 
against  them  who  suffer  it,  but  against  them  who  inflict  it. 
For  alms  are  an  inheritance  and  a  piece  of  justice  which  is 
due  to  the  poor,  and  which  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  levied 
upon  us"  l     (cap.  X). 

With  these  and  similar  words  Francis  has  certainly  often 
enough  inspired  his  friends  to  persevere  in  the  severe  life  of 
poverty.  Soon  they  were  giving  their  services  in  the  hospitals, 
soon  helping  the  peasants  with  the  harvest  in  the  fields,  and 
never  was  their  recompense  other  than  their  daily  bread  and 
a  drink  of  water  with  it  from  the  spring.2 

1  Opuscula,  pp.  33-39. 

2  "  Diebus  vero  manibus  propriis  quod  noverant  laborabant,  existentes  in 
domibus  leprosorum,  vel  in  aliis  lociis  honestis,  servientes  omnibus  humiliter 
et  devote.  Nullum  officium  exercere  volebant,  de  quo  posset  scandalum 
exoriri,  sed  semper  sancta  et  juxta  opera  honesta  et  utilia."  These  words  of 
Celano  (V.pr.,I,  XV)  depict  the  activities  corresponding  to  the  Rule.  Compare 
Barth.  of  Pisa's  Conformitates  (Milan,  1513),  f.  25b:  "ut  serviant  summa  cum 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  8l 

It  often  happened  that  there  was  no  work  to  be  had,  and 
in  Assisi,  as  we  have  said,  all  doors  were  closed  in  the  faces 
of  the  Brothers.  Then  it  was  that  hope  could  hardly  be  sus- 
tained, and  it  may  well  be  believed  that  discontent  and  de- 
spair were  sometimes  on  the  point  of  overcoming  the  poor 
" Penitents  from  Assisi"  in  their  shed  at  Rivo  Torto.  On 
dark  and  rainy  days,  when  the  water  drove  in  through  the 
leaky  roof  of  the  building  and  the  earth  was  black  and  miry 
and  cold  for  the  bare  feet  to  tread  upon,  and  they  sat  there 
in  their  coarse,  ragged  gowns,  seven  or  eight  in  number,  and 
had  got  nothing  to  eat  all  day,  and  did  not  know  if  the  Broth- 
ers who  had  gone  out  to  beg  would  bring  anything  home,  and 
there  was  no  fire  to  warm  them,  and  no  books  to  read.  .  .  . 
In  those  days  of  rain,  in  those  dark,  cold  hours,  during  the 
short  but  raw  and  uncomfortable  winter  of  Umbria,  did  it 
not  perforce  occur  to  one  or  another  of  them  that  it  was  all 
foolishness,  and  that  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to  turn  the  back 
on  the  dark  hole  and  its  crazy  inhabitants,  to  go  back  to 
the  city  —  to  the  city  where  one  had,  alas !  once  owned  a 
house  and  garden,  money  and  goods,  which  foolishly  had 
been  cast  aside  and  given  to  the  poor?  There  must  surely 
have  been  some  such  moments,  when  more  than  one  of  the 
Brothers  felt  the  spirit  of  penance  weaken.  And  yet  we  hear 
of  only  one  falling  away  among  the  first  disciples  —  John  of 
Capella.  All  the  others  held  fast  and  persevered,  even  if 
they,  as  the  legends  tell  us,  often  had  to  eat  roots  instead  of 
bread.1    They  persevered  and  they  conquered. 

For  the  public  opinion  which  had  long  been  opposed  to 
them  began  to  reverse  itself,  little  by  little.     The  inflexible 

diligentia  suo  exemplo  leprosis  et  horribilibus.  Et  sic  fratribus  mandabat 
statim  ordinem  ingressis,  ut  in  talibus  obsequiis  Deo  studerent  placere." 

The  Fioretti  has  several  tales  of  the  Brothers'  care  of  the  sick  and  lepers, 
such  as  cap.  IV,  cap.  XXV,  cap.  XLII.  A  tale  which  is  preserved  in  Chronica 
XXIV  generalium  shows  us  that  the  Brothers  sometimes  could  be  discontented 
with  Francis:  "qui  fratres  hinc  inde  transmittendo  per  hospitia  leprosorum  fre- 
quenter ab  orationis  studio  distrahebat"  {Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  48).  See  also 
Eccleston's  Chronicle  {Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  249) :  "dixit  autem  (fr.  Agnellus),  quod 
cum  esset  cum  sancto  Francisco  in  quodam  hospitali  commorans"  and  Bishop 
Theobald  of  Assisi's  letter  on  the  Portiuncula  indulgence,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II, 
p.  880,  n.  6. 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XIII,  n.  55.     Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  XVI.  .    \  *   ( 

r* 


82  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

perseverance  of  the  Brothers  aroused  wonder,  their  pious 
way  of  life  won  approval.  Wayfarers  who  passed  by  the 
shed  at  Rivo  Torto  heard  the  Brothers'  voices  in  prayer  by 
night.  By  day  they  were  seen  going  to  the  hospital  or  work- 
ing elsewhere,  wherever  they  could  get  anything  to  do.1  In 
spite  of  their  poverty  they  always  had  something  to  spare  for 
anyone  who  asked  it,  and  if  there  was  nothing  else,  they 
would  give  the  hood  off  of  their  cloak  or  one  of  the  sleeves. 
They  showed  no  concern  about  money;  a  man  once  laid  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  on  the  altar  in  the  chapel  in 
Portiuncula,  but  soon  after  found  his  mammon  lying  in  a 
heap  of  dirt  upon  the  highway. 

Especially  was  it  to  be  seen  how  they  loved  each  other. 
Two  of  them  once,  while  on  a  journey,  were  attacked  by  a 
wandering  imbecile  who  had  started  to  throw  a  stone  at 
them.  And  they  saw  the  Brothers  shifting  places  constantly, 
because  each  wanted  to  be  upon  the  side  the  stone  came  from, 
so  as  to  protect  his  companion  with  his  body.  If  it  happened 
that  one  of  the  Brothers  by  a  thoughtless  or  hasty  word  had 
hurt  the  feelings  of  one  of  the  others,  he  allowed  himself 
neither  rest  nor  quiet  until  he  had  made  peace  with  his  Brother, 
and,  at  the  behest  of  the  offender,  the  offended  one  would 
have  to  put  his  foot  on  the  mouth  out  of  which  an  unchari- 
table word  had  issued.  Never  was  impolite  or  even  super- 
fluous and  worldly  conversation  heard  among  them,  and  if 
they  passed  by  women  on  their  way,  they  did  not  look  upon 
them,  but  fastened  their  eyes  on  the  dust  with  their  hearts 
in  heaven.2 

That  they  did  not  seek  after  this  world's  vanity  and  noth- 
ingness is  to  be  seen  on  an  occasion  when  Otto  of  Brunswick 
went  through  the  valley  of  Spoleto,  in  September,  1209,  on 
his  way  to  Rome  to  be  crowned  Emperor  by  Pope  Innocent. 

*"ut  non  starent  otiosi,  juvabant  pauperes  homines  in  agris  eorum,  et 
postea  ipsi  dabant  eisdem  de  pane  amore  Dei"  {Spec,  perf.,  cap.  LV). 

2  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XI.  Anon.  Perus.,  in  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  pp.  587-588,  nn. 
224-225.  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  XV.  Compare  Fioretti,  cap.  Ill:  "Come 
per  mala  cogitazione  che  santo  Francesco  ebbe  contro  a  frate  Bernardo,  comando 
al  detto  frate  Bernardo,  che  tre  volte  gli  andasse  co'  piedi  in  sulla  gola  e  in  sulla 
bocca."  Still  more  severe  was  the  punishment  for  uncharitable  conversa- 
tion to  which  Brother  Barbarus  condemned  himself  (2  Cel.,  Ill,  92). 


FOUNDATIONS     OF    THE     ORDER  83 

The  populace  gathered  from  Assisi,  Bettona,  Spello,  Isola 
Romana  and  all  the  other  towns  and  villages  of  the  mountain 
and  plain,  to  see  the  gorgeous  retinue.  Only  the  Brothers 
from  Rivo  Torto  were  absent  —  with  the  exception  of  one 
who  was  sent  by  Francis  to  go  and  meet  the  Emperor  Otto 
and  say  to  him  that  the  honors  of  this  world  are  transitory 
and  not  to  be  regarded,  —  a  saying  whose  truthfulness 
was  soon  to  be  shown  in  the  very  case  of  the  Emperor 
himself.1 

Meanwhile  Francis  had  decided  to  go  to  Rome.  In  the 
solitude  at  Rivo  Torto  he  had,  as  he  tells  in  his  Testament, 
"  with  few  and  simple  words, "  written  or  had  written  the  Rules 
of  life,  which  he  and  the  Brothers  followed  in  their  lives.2 
His  present  desire  was  to  have  this  Rule,  or  forma  vitae,  as  he 
used  to  call  it,  ratified  by  the  highest  authority  of  the  Church. 
There  was  no  need  of  this  visit;  it  was  the  Fourth  Lateran 
Council  of  1215  which  first  made  such  ratification  a  re- 
quirement for  the  founding  of  a  community  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  A  custom  which  was  not  older  than  Valdes 
was  now  beginning,  in  virtue  of  which  laymen  used  to  seek 
permission  from  the  Papal  throne  to  participate  in  preaching, 
hitherto  reserved  for  bishops  and  parish  priests.  Valdes  had 
obtained  such  a  permission,  but  with  a  strict  command  to  be 
subject  to  the  local  churchmen.  A  similar  permission  had 
been  given  in  1201  to  the  Humiliates,  and  in  1207  to  Durand 

1  Many  modern  biographers,  on  account  of  the  sequence  of  events,  as  given 
in  Thomas  of  Celano,  have  been  led  to  believe  that  the  occurrence  with  the 
Emperor  Otto  properly  belongs  after  the  journey  of  Francis  and  the  Brothers 
to  Rome  and  after  the  Pope's  approval  of  the  Rule  of  the  Order,  which  they 
place  accordingly  in  1209.  It  was  April  23,  1209,  when  Giles  visited  Francis, 
and  consequently  the  two  missionary  trips  (to  the  Marches  and  to  Rieti,  in- 
cluding Florence)  come  after  this  time.  These  journeys  undoubtedly  took 
several  months,  but  Innocent  III  left  Rome  late  in  May,  1209,  and  went  to 
Viterbo,  whence  he  did  not  return  until"  October  for  the  crowning  of  Otto. 
The  Brothers'  visit  to  Rome  must  have  occurred  after  this  date,  and  belongs 
probably  in  the  summer  of  1210.  See  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  5,  n.  8;  Wadding: 
Annates,  1210;  Sabatier:  Vie,  p.  100,  n.  1;  Hergenrother :  " Kirchengeschichte," 
I,  p.  797- 

2  "ego  paucis  verbis  et  simpliciter  feci  scribi;  et  dominus  papa  confirmavit 
mihi."  Opuscula,  p.  79.  Compare  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  XIII.  Chron.  XXIV  gen. 
in  Anal.  Franc,  IIL  p.  6:  "quandam  regulam  scripsit,  ubi  pene  omnia  mandata, 
quae  Christus  dedit  apostolis,  inseruit  et  omnes  professores  ejusdem,  tam  prae- 
latos  quam  subditos,  nominibus  evangelicis  nuncupavit." 


84  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

of  Huesca  and  his  Catholic  Valdenses.1  Francis  had  reason  to 
hope  that  Innocent  would  be  accessible  to  his  wishes  also. 

But  Francis'  devotion  to  the  Apostles  had  drawn  him  to 
Rome  with  special  power,  to  the  grave  of  the  Apostles  and  of 
their  successors.  The  Apostles  were  Francis'  model;  all  his 
thoughts  went  in  the  direction  of  the  restoration  of  the  apos- 
tolic life,  as  he  saw  it  in  the  Gospels.  It  was  "after  the  rule 
of  life  of  the  Apostles"  that  all  property  of  the  Brothers  should 
be  for  the  common  use.  "It  was  thus  in  the  Apostolic 
Church,"  was  an  argument  to  which  Francis  always  sub- 
mitted himself.2  The  later  legends  tell  of  Peter  and  Paul 
showing  themselves  to  Francis  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  as 
he  was  praying,  and  assuring  him  of  the  possession  of  "the 
perfect  kingdom  of  the  most  holy  poverty."  3 

One  day  in  the  summer  of  1210,  the  little  troop  of  penitents 
started  from  Rivo  Torto,  and  took  their  way  to  Rome.  Little 
is  told  us  of  their  journey,  except  that  Bernard  of  Quintavalle 
was  sometimes  their  leader  instead  of  Francis.  Him  they 
all  obeyed,  as  they  shortened  the  way  with  prayer,  song  and 
conversation.  The  Lord,  says  the  legend,  prepared  rest- 
ing places  for  them  everywhere  and  never  left  them  unpro- 
vided for.4 

On  their  arrival  in  Rome,  Bishop  Guido  of  Assisi  was  the 
first  to  whom  they  presented  themselves,  who  at  this  time, 
perhaps  not  without  previous  communication  with  Francis, 
was  present  in  the  Eternal  City.  The  Bishop  presented  the 
Brothers  to  a  friend  of  his  among  the  Cardinals  —  John  of 
St.  Paul 5  —  and  the  way  to  the  Pope  was  made  easy  for  them. 
Later  stories  tell  us  that  Francis  first  tried  to  reach  the  Pope 
by  his  own  efforts,  but  failed.     What  is  historically  certain 

1  Hilarin  Felder:  "Gesch.  der  Studien  im  Franz.  Ordcn"  (Freiburg,  1904), 
S.  40-41.  Achille  Luchaire:  Innocent  III;  les  Albigeois  (Paris,  1905),  pp. 
104-113. 

2  Tres  Socii,  n.  43.  Anon.  Perus.,  p.  587,  n.  223.  —  It  was  Francis  who,  in 
the  Roman  Breviary,  instead  of  the  usual  invocation  of  "all  the  Apostles," 
had  introduced  a  special  invocation  of  the  two  Roman  Apostles  Peter  and 
Paul.     See  Bernard  of  Bessa  (Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  672). 

3  Fioretti,  cap.  XIII.    Wadding,  I,  p.  30.     Compare  Bonaventure,  II,  7. 

4  Tres  Socii,  XII,  46. 

5  John  of  St.  Paul,  of  the  noble  Roman  family  of  Colonna,  made  cardinal  by 
Celestin  III  and  named  as  Sabine  bishop  by  Innocent  (Wadding,  12 10,  n.  7). 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  85 

is  only  this  much,  that  Cardinal  John,  after  the  Brothers 
had  lived  with  him  a  few  days,  undertook  to  speak  to  the 
Pope  about  them.    The  Pope  was  Innocent  III.1 

An  injustice  is  perpetrated  if  we,  like  Sabatier,  reproach 
Cardinal  John,  because  he  in  his  capacity  of  representative 
of  the  Curia  utilized  the  time  Francis  and  the  Brothers 
stayed  with  him,  to  investigate  their  intentions  and  prospects. 
The  period  was  actually  very  critical  for  the  Church,  and 
the  greatest  foresight  was  a  duty  for  its  pilot. 

It  is  with  a  very  poor  comprehension  of  the  Middle  Ages  that 
anyone  speaks  of  "  the  powerful  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages," 
and  especially  is  this  idea  faulty  when  the  period  is  that  of 
Innocent  III.  In  fact  the  centuries  of  the  Reformation  and 
the  Revolutionary  days  were  scarcely  more  anti-Papal  or  more 
opposed  to  the  Church  than  the  epoch  we  speak  of  —  about 
the  year  1200.  No  one  would  in  our  days  permit  Pius  X 
to  be  treated  as  Innocent  III  was  treated  more  than  once. 
He  tells  himself  how,  on  Holy  Thursday,  April  8,  1203,  on 
the  way  from  St.  Peter's  to  the  Lateran,  in  spite  of  the  Papal 
crown  which  he  wore  upon  his  head,  he  was  insulted  by  the 

1  Not  only  Francis  but  also  many  others  of  the  Brothers  knew  the  Bishop 
of  Assisi,  Guido.  This  is  said  explicitly  in  Leg.  trium  soc,  n.  47:  "ipse  affec- 
tabat  videre  virum  Dei  et  aliquos  de  fratribus  suis."  Sabatier  has  not  been 
willing  to  accept  this  and  similar  testimony  (Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  XIII:  "omnes 
fratres  in  omnibus  honorabat  et  speciali  venerabatur  dil'ectione").  It  certainly 
follows  from  Celano's  biography  that  Guido  did  not  know  the  cause  of  the 
Brothers'  Roman  journey  (causam  nesciens).  But  this  does  not  exclude  the 
possibility  of  a  conference  between  him  and  Francis;  certainly  in  any  case 
the  Bishop  would  not  willingly  have  thought  of  the  Brothers  intending  to  leave 
Umbria  ("timebat  enim,  ne  patriam  propriam  vellent  deserere  .  .  .  gaudebat 
plurimum  tantos  viros  in  suo  episcopatu  habere").  It  appears  to  be  a  pre- 
conception, when  Sabatier  (Vie,  p.  108)  accuses  Guido  of  only  taking  a  luke- 
warm interest  in  Francis  and  his  cause.  Also  from  Spec.  perf.  (ed.  Sab.),  cap. 
X,  it  is  clear  that  a  good  understanding  existed  between  Guido  and  Francis. 

The  place  in  Bona  venture's  legend  (III,  9),  in  which  it  is  told  that  Inno- 
cent first  turned  Francis  away  with  disdain,  and  was  converted  by  a  dream  and 
sent  the  next  morning  a  messenger  after  him,  when  he  was  found  in  St.  Anthony's 
Hospital  near  the  Lateran,  is  due  to  Jerome  of  Ascoli,  General  of  the  Francis- 
can Order  from  1274  to  1279,  and  later  Pope  under  the  name  of  Nicholas  IV. 
In  Wadding  (1210,  n.  8)  a  certain  nephew  of  Innocent,  Richard  Hannibal  de 
Molaria,  Cardinal  of  S.  Angelo  in  foro  piscium,  about  1274,  is  the  authority 
for  this  story.  This  nephew  should  have  had  the  story  from  Innocent  himself. 
Compare  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  591,  and  Chronica  XXIV  generalium  in  Analec. 
Franc,  III,  p.  365.  The  passage  in  question  exists  in  many  manuscripts.  A 
similar  but  much  expanded  relation  is  found  in  Matthew  of  Paris. 


86  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Roman  people  with  so  offensive  a  word  that  he  would  not 
repeat  it. 

As  early  as  1188  the  same  Roman  people  had  anticipated 
the  French  terrorists  and  abolished  the  Christian  reckoning 
of  time;  they  had  established  in  its  place  a  new  era  based 
on  the  restoration  of  the  Roman  senate  in  1143.  Time  after 
time  was  Innocent  chased  out  of  Rome;  the  tower  he  and 
his  brother  had  built  for  themselves  as  a  secure  refuge,  and 
whose  imposing  remains  still  bear  Innocent's  family  name 
{Torre  dei  Conti),  was  taken  from  him  by  the  Romans  and  was 
declared  communal  property.  From  May  to  October,  1204, 
the  Pope  had  to  be  a  helpless  witness  of  the  devastation  of 
Rome  by  his  enemies  of  the  Capocci  party. 

And  in  the  small  remains  of  power  which  the  Hohen- 
staufens  had  left  to  the  see  of  Peter,  the  power  and  authority 
of  Innocent  was  also  small.  For  to  free  themselves  from 
the  temporal  domain  of  the  Pope,  men  on  all  sides  withdrew 
from  his  spiritual  supremacy  and  broke  away  from  the  unity 
of  the  Church.  In  Orvieto  such  an  independent  faction  chose 
an  Albigensian  for  leader,  and  killed  the  podestd,  Pietro 
Paranzi,  sent  to  them  by  the  Pope.  Viterbo,  in  the  face  of 
the  prohibition  and  threats  of  the  Pope,  had  chosen  open 
heretics  as  consuls.  Interdict  and  ban  were  without  effect 
on  the  rebellious  populace;  Narni,  that  against  the  Pope's 
ban  had  laid  waste  the  little  community  of  Otricoli,  situated 
near  it,  lived  untroubled  for  five  years  under  excommunica- 
tion. The  republic  of  Orvieto,  likewise  in  cold  blood,  over- 
rode the  Papal  command  when  their  army  plundered  and 
burnt  the  neighboring  town  of  Acquapendente.  In  Sardinia 
the  priests  and  even  the  Bishops  were  so  inimical  to  the  Pope 
that  his  legate,  Blasio,  in  the  year  1202,  literally  did  not  know 
whence  he  could  procure  food  there.  Eventually  the  Ghibel- 
line  Pisa  took  the  island  from  the  Pope.  Even  when  Inno- 
cent won  a  victory  over  his  opponents,  the  fruits  of  the 
victory  were  taken  from  him.  Thus  when  Conrad  of  Irslingen 
had  gone  to  Narni  to  make  over  the  imperial  castle  in  Assisi 
to  the  Pope,  the  inhabitants  of  Assisi  destroyed  the  castle 
before  the  Pope  could  take  it  in  possession.  So  far  from 
punishing  Assisi  for  this  violence,  Innocent  did  not  dare  to 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  87 

enter  the  city,  when  he  passed  near  it,  as  he  visited  Perugia 
and  Spoleto  on  his  journey  of  homage  through  Umbria.1 

Innocent  Ill's  era  was  thus  in  full  rebellion  against  the 
Papal  authority,  and  this  rebellion  was,  just  as  in  later  cen- 
turies, at  the  one  time  religious  and  political.  We  seem 
to  see  Puritans,  Independents,  Illuminati,  Rosicrucians, 
Freemasons  shadowed  forth  in  the  more  or  less  politically 
tinted  sects  with  which  the  time  was  crowded.  The  church 
historians  reckon  whole  ranks  of  sect-creators  and  heresiarchs 
in  this  century,  —  from  the  rigorous  Peter  Valdes  and  his 
"Poor  Men  from  Lyons,"  to  shameless  pantheists  like  David 
of  Dinant  and  Ortlieb  of  Strassburgh,  Neo-Manichees  like 
the  Albigenses,  Satanists  like  the  familiae  amoris,  which 
celebrated  the  black  mass  even  in  Rome.2 

The  most  dangerous  of  all  these  sects  were  the  Albigenses. 
In  the  year  1200  they  were  to  be  found  scattered  all  over 
Europe  —  from  Rome  to  London,  from  the  Black  Sea  to 
Spain,  but  especially  along  the  lower  Danube,  in  northern 
Italy  and  southern  France,  and  in  places  along  the  Rhine. 
They  bore  different  names  in  different  countries:  on  the 
lower  Danube  Bulgari,  Bugri,  Publicans;  in  Lombardy  Para- 
tenes,  Gazarenes;  in  southern  France  Cathari  or  Albigenses 
(after  the  city  Albi  in  Languedoc).  Everywhere  they  held 
the  same  doctrine,  and  this  was  a  reiteration  of  the  dualism 
of  the  Manichees.  By  way  of  the  Bogomili  and  Paula- 
cians  of  Bulgaria,  they  descended  directly  from  the  adherents 
of  Mani. 

The  Albigensian  theory  of  the  universe  rested  on  the  old 
heathen  doctrine  of  two  gods  —  a  good  one  who  had  created 
souls,  a  bad  one  who  had  created  the  material  world.  It  was 
therefore  essential,  they  taught,  to  hold  aloof  from  all  that 
is  material  —  in  theory  they  cast  aside  marriage,  family  life, 
all  that  could  not  be  considered  purely  spiritual.  The  name 
they  themselves  adopted  Cathari  or  "the  pure,"  indicates 
this.  To  preserve  this  purity  the  most  zealous  among  them 
starved    themselves   to    death.     In    practice,   marriage   was 

1See  in  this  connection  Achille  Luchaire:  Innocent  III;  Rome  et  Vltalie 
(Paris,  1905). 

2  Wadding,  I  (1731),  pp.  3-4. 


88  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

permitted  for  the  great  mass  of  the  Cathari,  and  often  the 
severe  denial  broke  loose  into  unbridled  sensuality  —  as  with 
the  German  Luciferians. 

I  The  Cathari  were  therefore,  with  their  entire  philosophy 
as  well  as  with  their  practice,  born  enemies  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  war  which  the  Church  now  took  up,  and  which 
on  the  part  of  Rome  was  carried  on  as  long  as  possible  with 
spiritual  weapons,1  was  therefore  a  fight  for  one  of  the  most 
valued  possessions  of  Christian  culture  —  for  theological 
monism.  The  unity  of  God  —  this  was  the  truth  for  which  the 
Church  fought  and  which  it  saved  by  fighting.  There  is  a 
bottomless  abyss  between  the  Manichees,  for  whom  life  is 
impure  and  unholy,  and  for  whom  nature  is  a  work  of  a  devil, 
a  bad  and  detestable  crime  of  the  " Life-desire,"  and  the  Chris- 
tian, who  in  matter  sees  a  pure  and  holy  work  from  the  hands 
of  an  all-loving  Creator,  and  only  stained  by  the  miserable 
crimes  of  little  man.  Rome  had  to  decide  on  which  side  of 
this  abyss  Francis  and  his  Brothers  stood  —  if  their  strange 
asceticism  was  a  product  of  the  pride  of  the  Cathari  or  of 
evangelic  Christianity.  That  they  came  from  Assisi  could 
well  awaken  a  suspicion;  for  among  the  communities  where 
the  Cathari  had  acquired  political  power,  it  was  precisely 
this  little  city  which  in  1203  had  chosen  an  Albigensian  for 
podesta. 

In  Francis,  it  was  to  be  feared,  might  be  found  a  man  of  the 
same  character  as  Peter  Valdes,  whose  ideal  had  also  been 
evangelical  poverty.  The  well-known  Lyonnese  had  in  11 79 
obtained  permission  from  Alexander  III  to  preach  in  public 
the  conversion  of  sinners,  and  to  live  in  apostolic  poverty. 
Already  in  1184  Lucius  III  had  placed  Valdes  and  his  fol- 
lowers under  the  ban  as  rebels  against  the  functions  of  the 
Church,  and  as  renewers  of  Donatism.  Only  a  few  of  the 
Valdensians  were  preserved  as  adherents  to  the  unity  of 
the  Church,  by  the  Spaniard,  Durand  of  Huesca. 

It  took  only  a  short  time  to  convince  Cardinal  John  that 
Francis  and  his  friends  were  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of 
these  two  sectaries. 

1  Consult  in  this  matter  Achille  Luchaire:  Innocent  III;  La  Croisade  des 
Albigeois  (Paris,  1905),  pp.  35-67. 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  89 

That  God  is  one  —  this  was  the  foundation  of  Francis' 
piety,  as  it  is  the  fundamental  doctrine  in  the  theology  of  the 
Church.1 

There  is  only  one  God  —  the  God  of  creation  and  of  salva- 
tion, the  God  of  the  Cross  and  the  God  of  holiness,  the  God  of 
love  and  the  God  of  nature  —  one  God,  as  there  is  one  world 
and  one  heaven  —  one  God,  glorious,  thanked  and  praised 
by  all,  who  moves  and  has  the  spirit  of  life,  from  worm  to 
cherubim,  through  all  the  ages  of  eternity!  Francis  felt  this, 
for  he  was^no  Manichee  to  deny  life  and  to  hate  life,  but  a 
Christian  who  wanted  to  live,  and  loved  life,  —  in  its  purity, 
in  its  golden  goodness,  in  its  deepest  innermost  sweetness, 
in  its  highest  most  divine  plenitude.  It  was  by  these  feelings 
that  he  was  to  be  distinguished  from  the  souls  of  pride,  who 
haughtily  called  themselves  "the  pure,"  "the  perfect,"  "the 
chosen,"  but  who  in  reality  had  to  vibrate  between  self-torture 
and  degradation.2 

Francis  was  no  negative  soul;  neither  was  he  a  critical  soul. 
The  only  criticism  he  understood  was  self-criticism.  And 
this  distinguished  him  completely  from  Valdes  and  his  tenden- 
cies. As  a  modern  historian  has  pertinently  said:  "Francis 
appeared  as  the  herald  of  a  holy  life;  Valdes  of  the  divine 
command.  Francis  preached  the  love  of  Christ,  and  Valdes 
the  prohibitions  of  the  Lord.  Francis  overflowed  with  the 
happiness  of  God's  children;  Valdes  punished  the  sins  of  the 
world.  Francis  collected  those  who  loved  amendment,  and 
let  the  others  quietly  go  their  way.  Valdes  attacked  the 
ungodliness  of  the  ungodly  and  irritated  the  clergy."3 

Such  then  was  the  distinctive  peculiarity  of  Francis  — 
this  it  was  which  separated  him  from  all  the  contemporaneous 
reformers.  Even  those  of  them  who  were  best  disposed  to 
the  Church,  such  as  a  Robert  of  Arbrissel,  fell  before  the  temp- 
tation of  turning  their  criticism  against  the  priesthood  and 

1  At  the  Lateran  Council  of  121 5  this  doctrine  was  most  explicitly  invoked 
in  the  case  of  the  Cathari.     See  Denziger's  Enchiridion,  pp.  355  et  seq. 

2  Such  of  the  Cathari  who  had  taken  the  so-called  spiritual  baptism 
(consolamentum)  called  themselves  perfecti  or  electi.  A  good  insight  into 
Francis'  monistic  views  is  to  be  found  in  the  last  chapter  of  his  Regula  prima. 

3  Schmieder  in  " Ev.  Kirchenzeit,"  1854,  p.  288,  quoted  by  Oppermann: 
Kunst  og  Liv  i  del  gamle  Florens"  (Copenhagen,  1895),  p.  28. 


90  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

their  failings,  instead  of  against  the  heart  of  the  individual. 
With  instinctive  certainty  Francis  understood  that  without 
the  reform  of  the  individual  all  other  reform  is  meaningless, 
and  therefore  he  brought  about  that  general  reform  of  conduct 
which  neither  the  bulls  of  excommunication  of  the  Pope  nor 
the  thunders  of  the  lay-preachers  had  been  able  to  effect. 
Here  it  was  shown,  as  so  often  elsewhere,  that  God  was  not 
working  by  stormy  methods. 

Cardinal  John  was  not  long  in  coming  to  a  complete  under- 
standing of  the  deep-rooted  idiosyncrasy  of  Francis.  He 
felt  that  here  he  stood  before  a  man  unselfish  in  root  and 
branch.  He  felt  that  there  were  no  idle  promises,  no  false 
pretences,  when  Francis,  speaking  of  his  plans,  simply  said : 
"God  has  called  us  to  the  help  of  his  holy  faith  and  of  the 
Roman  Church's  priests  and  prelates."  l 

After  the  lapse  of  a  few  days  the  Cardinal  found  himself  in 
the  presence  of  Innocent  and  imparted  the  following  informa- 
tion: "I  have  found  a  very  perfect  man  who  wishes  to  live 
after  the  precepts  of  the  holy  gospel,  and  in  all  things  to 
adhere  to  the  evangelical  perfection.  And  I  believe  the  Lord 
intends  by  him  to  renew  the  faith  all  over  the  world." 

The  Brothers  from  Assisi  were  then  admitted  to  the  Pope's 
presence.  The  Pope  let  Francis  unfold  his  programme  and 
then  answered: 

"My  dear  son,  this  life  you  and  your  Brothers  lead  seems 
too  severe  to  me.  I  certainly  do  not  doubt  that  you  are  all 
in  a  condition  to  live  it,  borne  up  by  the  first  enthusiasm. 
But  you  should  also  think  of  those  who  come  after  you,  and 
who  may  not  have  the  same  zeal." 

To  this  Francis  only  answered  thus:  "Lord  Pope,  I  depend 
upon  my  Lord,  Jesus  Christ.  He  has  promised  us  eternal 
life  and  heavenly  happiness,  and  will  not  deny  us  so  trivial  a 

1  Speculum  perfectionis,  cap.  X,  where  also  the  motives  are  given:  that 
Francis  and  his  Brothers  could  do  more  to  gain  souls,  when  laymen  and  priests 
lived  in  unity,  than  when  people  were  filled  with  anger  against  the  priests.  In 
the  same  place  is  to  be  noted  this  saying  of  Francis:  "In  the  first  days  of  my 
conversion  God  put  his  word  into  the  mouth  of  the  Bishop  of  Assisi,  that  he 
might  advise  me  and  fortify  me  in  the  service  of  Christ."  (Sabatier's  edition, 
p.  24.)  This  agrees  perfectly  with  the  Legenda  triutn  sociorum,  III,  10;  see  in 
this  book,  p.  85,  n.  1. 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  91 

thing  as  what  we  need  here  upon  earth  to  maintain 
our  life." 

With  the  suspicion  of  a  smile  —  one  seems  to  see  it  through 
the  words  —  Innocent  answered : 

"What  you  say,  my  son,  is  perfectly  true.  But  the  nature 
of  man  is  frail  and  seldom  holds  to  one  purpose  long.  Go 
then  and  pray  God  to  reveal  to  you  how  far  what  you  want 
coincides  with  his  will." 

Francis  and  his  Brothers  left  the  presence  of  the  Pope,  who, 
in  the  next  consistory,  laid  the  affair  before  the  Cardinals.  As 
was  to  be  expected,  several  of  the  old,  practically  minded  ones 
had  great  doubts  about  an  order  whose  principles  seemed  to 
exceed  the  powers  of  mankind.1 

It  was  no  purely  contemplative  order  that  Francis  wished 
to  found,  to  which  utter  poverty  might  be  supposed  to  be 
annexed.  Francis'  ideal  was  indeed  the  apostolic  life  and 
especially  the  apostolic  preaching.  But  how  should  this  last- 
mentioned  task  be  performed  in  a  life  of  all  kinds  of  work  or 
one  of  begging  from  door  to  door?  Even  the  Waldenses  had 
had  evangelical  poverty  on  their  programme;  in  reality  they 
had  laymen  among  them  whose  work  took  care  of  the  needs  of 
the  preachers.  The  Humiliati,  in  spirit  and  life  allied  to  the 
Waldenses,  originally  a  brotherhood  of  Lombard  cloth-makers, 
worked  in  common,  kept  what  was  most  necessary  for 
themselves  and  distributed  the  rest  to  the  poor.  The  "  Catho- 
lic Poor"  founded  by  the  converted  German  Catharus, 
Bernhard  Primus,  came  the  nearest  to  Francis'  ideal;  they 
lived  by  the  work  of  their  hands,  received  no  money  wages, 
but  only  food  and  clothes  as  compensation.  This  did  very 
well  as  long  as  prayer  and  work  were  the  Order's  only  effective 
obligations.  But  Francis  came  precisely  to  obtain  the  Papal 
permission  to  preach,  and  if  this  preaching  could  not  be  based 
on  the  work  of  lay-preachers,  then  necessarily  they  must  be 
supported  by  a  certain  amount  of  study.  To  make  this  study 
possible  there  would  be  needed,  no  matter  in  how  poor  a  shape, 
fixed  abodes  and  a  cloister  life.  And  how  was  it  possible  to 
erect  a  cloister  on  the  foundation  of  complete  poverty?2 

1  Bonav.,  Ill,  9.     Anon.  Perus.,  in  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  590,  n.  237. 

2  Compare  Gustav  Schniirer:  "Franz  von Assisi"  (Munchen,  1905),  pp.  46-47. 


92  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

There  is  scarcely  need  here  to  do  more  than  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  old  monastic  orders  held  their  members  to 
the  obligation  of  poverty,  but  this  was  to  be  taken  in  a  far 
different  sense  than  that  in  which  Francis  used  the  word.  It 
stood  certainly  in  the  Benedictine  Rules  that  he  who  entered 
the  Order  should  give  first  his  goods  to  the  poor,1  and  "the 
holy  poverty"  was  glorified  under  this  almost  Franciscan 
title  by  Bernard  of  Clairvaux.2  But  however  scornfully  this 
great  father  talks  of  "silver  and  gold,  the  white  and  red 
varieties  of  earth  that  acquire  their  value  from  man's  wicked- 
ness," 3  yet  the  existence  of  the  Cistercian  convents  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Benedictine  abbeys  depended  on  large  estates  of 
land.  The  single  monk  owned  nothing  except  what  the 
abbot  gave  him,  but  his  vow  of  poverty  was  not  affected  if  the 
cloister  was  richly  endowed.  Even  a  certain  degree  of  posses- 
sion seemed  necessary  for  the  inmates  of  the  cloister  to  be  free 
to  devote  themselves  to  spiritual  works,  and  not  be  troubled 
about  their  daily  bread. 

On  this  head  Francis  had  an  entirely  different  conception. 
What  Peter  and  Paul  had  been  able  to  accomplish  —  to  an- 
nounce the  gospel  to  the  world  while  they  at  the  same  time 
supported  themselves  by  the  work  of  their  hands  or  by  the 
gifts  of  the  charitable  —  should  still  be  possible.  The  Apostles 
had  not  sat  quietly  within  the  doors  of  a  convent,  and  Francis 
did  not  want  to  be  behind  them  in  this  respect. 

In  the  College  of  Cardinals  this  wish  of  Francis  aroused 
the  liveliest  opposition.  All  objections  were  met  by  John  of 
Colonna's  simple  enunciation:  "These  men  only  want  us  to 
allow  them  to  live  after  the  gospel.  If  we  now  declare  that 
this  is  impossible,  then  we  declare  that  the  gospel  cannot  be 
followed,  and  thus  insult  Christ,  who  is  the  origin  of  the  gospel." 
These  words  had  their  effect  and  Francis  was  again  invited  to 
the  Lateran. 

In  the  night  preceding  this  new  meeting,  the  Pope  is  said  to 
have  had  a  curious  dream.  It  seemed  to  him  that  he  stood  in 
the  Lateran  palace,  in  the  place  that  is  called  speculum, 
because  there  is  a  wide  prospect  therefrom,  and  one  looks  out 

1  "Res  si  quas  habet  .  .  .  eroget  prius  pauperibus"  (Reg.  S.  Bened.,  cap.  58). 

2  Ep.  103,  n.  7.     Ep.  141,  n.  2.  3  In  Adv.,  Sermo  IV,  n.  1. 


FOUNDATIONS     OF     THE     ORDER  93 

over  the  Lateran  church  dedicated  to  John  the  Baptist  and 
John  the  Evangelist,  "the  head  and  mother  of  all  churches. " 
And  then  he  saw  with  fear  that  the  proud  building  shook,  the 
tower  swung,  and  the  walls  began  to  crack  —  soon  must  the 
old  basilica  of  Constantine  be  a  heap  of  ruins.  Paralyzed  with 
fright,  with  powerless  hands,  the  Pope  stood  in  his  palace  and 
looked  on,  wanted  to  cry  out  but  could  not  —  and  what  good 
would  that  have  done?  —  wished  to  fold  his  hands  in  prayer 
but  could  not  —  and  even  that  might  have  been  useless. 

Then  a  man  came  over  the  Lateran  piazza  —  a  small,  com- 
mon-looking man,  dressed  in  peasant  garb,  barefoot  and  with 
a  rope  around  his  waist  instead  of  a  belt.  And  the  poor  little 
man,  looking  neither  to  right  nor  left,  went  right  across  to 
the  falling  church.  Now  he  stood  by  one  of  the  walls  that 
leaned  over  him,  as  if  ready  to  fall  and  crush  him  in  the  next 
minute.  Wonderful  to  see,  it  seemed  as  if  the  little  man 
suddenly  became  as  tall  as  the  wall  he  stood  by.  See!  now 
he  sets  his  shoulder  in  under  the  cornice  of  the  wall,  and  with 
a  mighty  push  straightens  the  whole  falling  church,  so  that  it 
again  stands  up  in  perfect  condition. 

Involuntarily  the  Pope  emitted  a  deep  sigh  of  relief  and  loss 
of  tension.  As  if  the  little  man  had  only  waited  for  this,  he 
turned  himself  about  with  face  directed  towards  the  Lateran. 
And  Innocent  saw  that  he  who  so  wonderfully  had  rescued 
the  head  and  mother  of  all  churches  was  no  other  than  the 
little,  poor  Brother  Francis  from  Assisi. 

When  Francis  the  day  after  stepped  before  the  Pope,  it  was 
with  a  well-prepared  tale. 

"Lord  Pope,"  said  he,  "I  will  tell  you  a  story." 

"Once  there  lived  in  a  desolate  place  an  extremely  beautiful 
but  very  poor  woman.  She  saw  the  king  of  the  country,  and 
she  found  favor  in  his  eyes,  and  Jhe  asked  her  to  marry  him, 
hoping  to  have  born  to  him  beautiful  children.  But  when  they 
were  married  a  long  enough  time,  the  woman  had  borne  many 
sons.  And  she  began  to  meditate  within  herself  and  said: 
'What  shall  I  a  poor  woman  do  with  all  the  children  I  have? 
I  have  no  inheritance  from  which  they  can  live!'  Then  she 
said  to  the  sons :  l  Fear  not,  for  you  are  the  sons  of  a  king !  Go 
then  to  the  court  and  he  will  give  you  all  you  want ! '   But  as 


94  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

they  came  to  the  king,  he  wondered  at  their  beauty  and  saw 
that  they  resembled  him,  and  he  said  to  them:  ' Whose  sons 
are  you?'  But  they  answered  that  they  were  sons  of  the 
poor  woman  in  the  desolate  place.  Then  the  king  embraced 
them  with  great  joy,  and  said  to  them :  '  Fear  not,  for  you  are 
my  sons.  If  I  feed  so  many  at  my  table,  how  much  more 
should  I  feed  you  who  are  my  lawful  sons!'  And  he  sent  a 
messenger  to  the  woman  in  the  wilderness,  that  she  should 
send  him  all  her  children  to  the  court,  so  that  he  could  support 
them!"1 

After  having  ended  this  parable,  Francis  continued: 

"Lord  Pope,  I  am  the  poor  woman  in  the  wilderness.  God 
has  in  his  mercy  looked  upon  me  and  I  have  borne  him  sons  in 
Christ.  And  the  King  of  kings  has  said  to  me  that  he  will 
take  care  of  all  my  offspring,  for  if  he  gives  the  stranger  food, 
much  more  should  he  give  it  to  the  children  of  his  house. 
God  gives  worldly  goods  to  sinners,  on  account  of  the  love 
they  have  for  their  children;  how  profusely  will  he  not  pour 
all  his  gifts  upon  those  who  follow  his  gospel  and  to  whom 
therefore  he  owes  that  much?  " 

Thus  Francis  spoke,  and  Innocent  understood  that  it  was 
not  the  world's  wisdom  but  the  spirit  and  power  of  God.  He 
broke  out,  turning  to  the  Cardinals  who  sat  there: 

"  Truly  this  is  the  pious  and  holy  man  by  whom  the  Church 
of  God  shall  be  restored!  " 

And  he  arose,  embraced  Francis,  blessed  him  and  the 
Brothers  and  said  to  them:  "Go  with  God,  Brothers,  and 
announce  salvation  for  all,  as  the  Lord  reveals  it  to  you !  And 
when  the  Almighty  has  multiplied  your  numbers,  then  come 
back  to  me,  and  you  will  find  me  willing  to  give  you  further 
concessions  and  to  charge  you  with  a  greater  inheritance."2 

All  the  Brothers  knelt  before  the  Pope  and  promised  him 
obedience  as  their  superior.  Permission  to  preach  was  also 
given  to  Francis,  and  only  through  him  to  the  others.  As  a 
conclusion  to  the  audience  the  Brothers  finally  received  the 

1  Tres  Socii,  XII,  50.  Anon.  Perus.,  p.  590,  n.  238,  has  a  somewhat  different 
version  of  the  occurrence.     Compare  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  I,  cap.  XI. 

2  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  XIII.  Julian,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  pp.  590-591,  n.  240. 
Tres  Socii,  XII,  49. 


FOUNDATIONS     OF    THE     ORDER  95 

clerkly  tonsure,  which  was  given  them  by  Cardinal  John  and 
which  was  the  outer  sign  of  the  permission  to  preach  the  word.1 
After  a  visit  to  the  graves  of  the  Apostles  in  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  Francis  and  the  Brothers  left  Rome.  Their  way 
led  them  out  over  the  Roman  Campagna  and  past  Soracte's 
white  summits.  They  hastened  quickly  from  the  place,  eager 
to  be  back  in  their  accustomed  surroundings  once  more  to 
pursue  the  life  and  do  the  things  for  which  they  had  so  for- 
tunately obtained  the  Church's  permission  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Vicar  of  Christ. 

1  Introduction  to  Regula  prima  (Opusc,  p.  24).  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XII,  nn. 
51-52.     Bonav.,  Ill,  10.     Anon.  Perus.,  p.  590,  n.  240. 

In  the  work  referred  to  before  on  scientific  studies  among  the  Franciscans, 
Fr.  Hilarin  Felder  remarks  that  the  permission  Francis  obtained  in  12 10  only 
included  the  so-called  moral  preaching,  but  not  dogmatic  preaching  (on  faith, 
the  sacraments,  etc.),  for  which  theological  knowledge  was  required  (ditto, 
p.  56). 


CHAPTER  III 
RIVO   TORTO 

AFTER  having  wandered  through  the  scorched 
Roman  Campagna  in  the  burning  heat  of  a  summer 
day,  Francis  and  his  companions  approached  the 
Sabine  Mountains.  Here  they  stopped  for  a  while 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  town  of  Ortis,  in  our  day  the  junction 
point  for  the  two  great  railroad  lines  which  go  to  Rome  each 
from  its  own  side  of  the  Apennines.  They  rested  here  for  a 
space  of  two  weeks  in  one  of  the  mountain  valleys  through 
which  the  green-grey  river  Nera  flows.  The  place  was  so 
beautiful,  says  Thomas  of  Celano,  that  the  Brothers  were 
near  proving  untrue  to  their  newly  sanctioned  plan  of  life. 
By  begging  from  door  to  door  in  Ortis  they  obtained  for  them- 
selves the  necessary  daily  bread  —  sometimes  they  got  so  much 
that  they  could  lay  aside  some  for  the  next  day.  Although 
this  was  not  in  accord  with  Francis'  designs,  the  place  was  so 
desolate  and  empty  that  there  was  no  one  to  whom  they  could 
give  for  alms  what  was  left  over.  An  old  Etruscan  grave 
served  them  as  storechamber.  And  so  great  a  power  had 
this  isolated  and  solitary  life  in  the  midst  of  the  mountains 
and  of  nature's  loneliness  upon  the  Brethren,  that  they  seri- 
ously nourished  the  thought,  if  it  were  not  better  for  the  sal- 
vation of  their  souls  to  remain  here  for  ever,  and  to  forget  the 
world  and  mankind  in  a  severe  ascetic  life.1 

Those  who  have  lived  among  the  Italian  mountains  will 
find  it  easy  to  understand  this  temptation.  There  is  some- 
thing in  the  nature  of  the  Italian  mountains  that  invites  to 
the  hermit  life.  For  example,  the  limestone  of  which  the 
Sabine  Mountains  are  composed  supplies  natural  caves  and 
places  of  retreat  for  hermits.  For  the  simple  man  in  Italy, 
the  two  principal  needs  for  his  nourishment  are  bread  and 

1  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  XIV. 
96 


RIVOTORTO  97 

wine j  and  if  the  hermit  has  no  wine  the  springs  are  bubbling 
and  the  brooks  are  flowing  everywhere  in  the  mountains. 
There  is  a  real  Italian  feeling  of  enjoyment  and  contentment 
throughout  the  chapter  in  Fioretti,  in  which  Francis  and  his 
Brother  Masseo  eat  the  bread  they  have  begged  together  "on 
a  fine  big  stone  at  the  side  of  the  clear  spring, "  and  thank  God 
so  devoutly  for  the  happiness  to  be  allowed  to  sit  in  the  warm 
sunshine  under  the  blue  sky  and  appease  their  thirst  and  their 
hunger  at  Lady  Poverty's  table  with  simple  healthy  food.  .  .  ." 

This  is  why  Italy's  stories  of  her  saints  are  so  full  of  tales  of 
hermits.  St.  Benedict  of  Nurcia  himself  began  his  career  as 
a  hermit  in  his  grotto  at  Subiaco,  where  for  three  years  he 
fasted  and  scourged  himself,  so  that  the  herdsmen  who  dis- 
covered him  regarded  him  first  as  a  wild  beast.  And  again, 
one  hundred  years  after  the  time  of  St.  Francis,  Siena  saw 
three  of  her  most  prominent  and  learned  young  men,  Bernardo 
Tolomei  and  his  two  friends,  withdraw  to  the  cypress-grown 
heights  of  Mt.  Oliveto  and  put  on  the  white  habit  of  the 
Benedictine  hermit,  separating  them  from  the  world. 

This  temptation  to  a  life  in  lonely  penance  and  prayer  now 
drew  near  to  Francis  and  his  friends  here  in  this  isolated  valley 
among  the  Sabine  Hills,  where  no  voice  was  heard  except  those 
of  the  birds  and  brooks.  But  the  temptation  was  overcome. 
Francis,  says  his  first  biographer,  never  depended  on  his  own 
insight,  but  asked  in  prayer  for  God's  guidance  in  all  things. 
And  so  he  now  chose  not  to  live  for  himself  alone,  for  it  was 
made  clear  to  him  that  he  was  sent  out  to  save  souls  from  the 
devil  and  win  them  for  God.  Soon  the  well-known  places  in 
the  valley  of  Spoleto  greeted  Francis  and  his  disciples,  and 
they  re-established  their  dwelling  in  the  shed  at  Rivo  Torto 
and  in  the  woods  around  the  Portiuncula  chapel. 

Soon  after  their  home-coming  they  had  the  happiness  to 
receive  the  priest  of  Assisi,  Silvester,  into  their  ranks.  As 
before  related,  Francis'  liberality,  that  day  in  St.  George's 
churchyard,  had  made  a  deep  impression  on  him,  and  he  began 
to  form  another  opinion  about  the  significance  of  our  life  than 
what  he  had  hitherto  entertained.  It  came  to  pass  that  one 
night  he  saw  in  a  dream  a  huge  cross  whose  arms  stretched 
over  the  whole  world,  and  that  came  out  of  the  mouth  of 
8 


98  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Brother  Francis.  This  made  him  understand  that  the  brother- 
hood Francis  had  begun  to  establish  was  to  spread  over  the 
whole  world  of  mankind  and  that  its  action  was  a  divine  one. 
After  some  period  of  deliberation  he  decided  himself  to  ask 
to  be  received  among  the  Brethren  and  thus  became  the  first 
priest  in  the  order.1 

Francis,  "  emboldened  by  the  power  of  the  apostolic 
authority,"  prosecuted  the  missionary  activity  he  had  begun 
before  the  journey  to  Rome.  His  preaching  in  accord  with 
the  permission  given  to  him  was  directed  to  the  moral  and 
social  aspect  of  things  —  he  preached  conversion  from  evil 
ways,  a  life  of  goodness,  peace  with  God  and  with  one's 
neighbor.  Presumably  with  the  consent  of  Bishop  Guido,  the 
cathedral  church  in  Assisi  was  given  to  him  for  his  sermons; 
here  he  heralded  the  Christian  ideal,  without  fear  and  without 
regard  to  other  issues,  because  he  never,  as  his  biographers 
say,  gave  any  advice  to  others  which  he  had  not  first  prac- 
tised in  his  own  person.2 

For  Francis  the  proverb  did  not  hold,  that  the  prophet  is 
without  honor  in  his  own  country.  That  his  exhortations  were 
not  fruitless  is  witnessed  by  the  large  accessions  his  Order  now 
received — "many  of  the  people,  noble  and  common,  clerks  and 
laymen,  were  seized  by  the  spirit  of  God,  cast  aside  all  worldly 
distractions  and  followed  the  track  Francis  had  trod."3  Of 
these  new  disciples  the  majority  were  from  Assisi  and  its 
vicinity. 

But  the  preaching  of  Francis  in  San  Rufino  operated  in  a 
much  wider  circle.  Thomas  of  Celano  compares  its  effects 
to  a  star  rising  brightly  over  the  horizon,  and  to  the  breaking  of 
dawn  after  a  gloomy  night.  He  compares  it  to  a  seed's  break- 
ing forth  from  the  ground  with  the  coming  of  the  flowers  and 
spring.  The  whole  aspect  of  the  place  was  changed,  he  writes; 
like  a  river,  rich  in  goodness  and  fruitfulness,  Francis  streamed 
through  the  place  and  transformed  the  gardens  of  the  hearts 
of  men  so  that  they  blossomed  forth  in  virtue. 

It  is  probable  that  Brother  Thomas,  in  this  carefully  worked- 

1  Tres  Socii,  IX,  31.     Actus  b.  Francisci,  I,  38-43.    Bonav.,  Ill,  5. 

2  Cel.,  V.  pr.,I,  XV.     Tres  Socii,  XIII,  54. 

3  Tres  Socii,  ditto.     Compare  Celano. 


RIVOTORTO  99 

out  prose,  alludes  to  an  occurrence  which  really  changed  the 
whole  condition  of  Assisi,  and  which  can  undoubtedly  be 
ascribed  to  the  sermons  of  St.  Francis.  I  refer  to  the  adjust- 
ment between  the  upper  and  lower  classes,  majores  and  minores, 
which  was  ratified  in  the  great  hall  of  the  communal  palace 
in  1210.  We  still  possess  the  document  which  was  drawn 
up  on  this  occasion,  and  which  begins  thus: 

"In  the  name  of  God.     Amen. 

"The  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  with  you. 

"For  the  honor  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  Emperor  Otto  and  Duke  Leopold." 

After  his  introduction  a  whole  series  of  stipulations  follows, 
of  which  the  most  important  is  the  agreement  below: 

"In  all  mutual  agreements,  no  alliance  shall  be  entered  into, 
neither  with  pope  or  his  nuncios  or  legates,  nor  with  the 
emperor  or  king  or  their  nuncios  or  legates,  or  with  any  state 
or  fortification  or  with  any  magnate;  but  they  shall  be  united 
in  all  things  which  are  necessary  for  the  welfare  and  progress 
of  the  city  of  Assisi." 

In  this,  the  Magna  Charta  of  Assisi,  almost  all  the  citizens 
who  hitherto  had  been  bondsmen  were  released  on  payment 
of  a  very  small  ransom,  which  could  be  validly  paid  to  the 
city  authorities  if  their  lords  refused  to  accept  it.  Inhabitants 
of  the  environs  of  Assisi  received  the  same  rights  as  the  citizens 
proper;  the  protection  of  strangers  was  provided  for;  the 
compensation  of  ambassadors  for  going  on  embassies  was 
stipulated;  finally,  amnesty  for  the  disturbances  of  1202  was 
pronounced,  and  the  proper  authorities  were  strictly  charged 
to  carry  out  the  work  on  the  cathedral  that  had  been  under 
way  since  1140.1 

When  we  think  of  how  the  Italian  republics,  both  in  the 
thirteenth  century  and  later,  were  rent  by  civil  wars,  then 
we  can  realize  how  eloquently  such  a  document  speaks  for  the 
peaceful  growth  and  prosperity  of  Assisi.  The  biographers 
also  picture  Francis  to  us  as  the  pacifier  in  other  Italian 
states,  such  as  Arezzo,  Perugia,  Siena.2     Even  the  celebrated 

1  Cristofani,  I,  123-130.     Le  Monnier,  I,  165-167.     Sabatier,  133-135. 

2  Arezzo:  Bonav.,  VI,  9;  Perugia:  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  II,  6;  Siena: 
Fioretti,  cap.  XI. 


IOO  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Wolf  of  Gubbio  is  nothing  without  the  tale,  adorned  in  the 
legend,  about  the  treaty  of  peace  between  a  little  Italian 
republic  and  one  of  those  inhuman  savage  lords  of  a  castle, 
who,  like  Knight  Werner  of  Urslingen,  could  bear  a  shield 
on  the  breast  with  the  inscription,  "  Enemy  of  God,  of  Pity 
and  of  Mercy."  l  An  historical  companion-piece  to  Francis 
and  the  Wolf  of  Gubbio  is  given  by  Anthony  of  Padua  face  to 
face  with  the  tyrant  Ezzelin.2 

This  aspect  of  Francis'  activity  is  pictured  in  the  legends 
as  the  expulsion  of  devils.  In  Giotto's  pictures  in  the  upper 
church  in  Assisi  we  see  the  demons  flying  in  all  sorts  of  horrible 
forms  up  the  chimneys  of  Arezzo,  while  Francis'  hand  is 
lifted  in  blessing  over  the  city.  We,  children  of  the  twenti- 
eth century,  have  lost  the  power  of  representing  the  evil 
spirits  in  bodily  form,  as  the  artist  and  tellers  of  legends  did 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  But  can  we  say  that  their  presence  is 
less  certain  or  their  disagreeable  propinquity  in  many  fateful 
moments  less  real?  Are  there  no  times  and  places  when  the 
great  power  of  darkness  is  felt,  not  only  in  but  around  one  — 
where  it  is  as  if  a  real  incorporeal  voice  whispered  in  the  ear, 
when  one  is  led  off  into  the  flames  of  hell  hand  in  hand  — 
when  there  is  a  low,  penetrating  voice  that  goes  through  one: 
"See  that!  Go  there!"  Ah,  there  are  not  only  many  places, 
but  also  many  houses,  where  the  need  is  real  that  one  of  God's 
friends  should  appear  upon  the  threshold,  and  with  mighty 
voice  give  the  command:  "In  the  name  of  the  Almighty  God 
and  of  his  servant  St.  Francis  I  command  you  evil  spirits  to 
depart!"3 

It  was  at  this  time  that  one  day  the  Rules  of  the  Order  were 
being  read  aloud  in  the  presence  of  Francis,  and  that  the 
reader  came  to  the  part  of  the  seventh  chapter  where  is  the 
expression:  et  sint  minor es,  "and  they  shall  be  inferiors." 
The  thought  of  a  name  for  the  Brotherhood  had  long  occupied 

1  Fioretti,  cap.  XXI.  Compare  the  legend  of  "  Brother  Wolf "  on  Mt.  Alverna 
in  Arthur's  Martyrlogium  Franciscanum  for  July  3  and  in  Wadding  (1215, 
n.  16).     See  Translator's  note,  p.  410. 

2  Lempp:  "A.  v.  P."  in  Ztschr.  f.  Kgsch.  (Gotha),  vol.  XIII,  p.  22,  n.  3. 

3  ante  portam  civitatis  coepit  clamare  valenter:  "Ex  parte  omnipotentis 
Dei  et  jussu  servi  ejus  Francisci,  procul  hinc  discedite,  daemones  universi." 
Bonav.,  VI,  9. 


RIVOTORTO  IOI 

Francis:  the  term  "Penitents  from  Assisi,"  viri  poenitentes 
de  Assisio,  was  only  an  expedient  to  repress  the  curious.  On 
hearing  this  placed  in  the  Rules,  the  word  Minores  impressed 
him  greatly  —  "Little  people,  Little  Brothers,  that  name 
suits  me  and  mine  well!"  Or  do  fratrum  minorum^  "the 
Order  of  the  Minor  Brothers,"  it  became. 

Thomas  of  Celano,  in  his  first  biography  of  St.  Francis,  has 
given  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  Brothers  in  the  shed  at  Rivo 
Torto,  which,  in  the  bright  harmony  of  clear  colors  on  a  sort 
of  ground  of  gold,  remind  one  of  Fra  Angelico's  altar-pieces. 
When  they  returned  from  their  work  at  evening  time  (he 
writes)  and  were  again  together,  or  when  they  in  the  course 
of  the  day  met  on  the  road,  love  and  joy  shone  out  of  the 
eyes,  and  they  greeted  each  other  with  chaste  embraces, 
holy  kisses,  cheerful  words,  modest  smiles,  friendly  glances 
and  equable  minds.  Because  they  had  given  up  all  self-love, 
they  thought  only  of  helping  each  other;  with  longing  they 
hurried  home,  with  joy  they  abided  there;  but  separation  was 
bitter,  and  leaving  was  sad.  Dissension  was  unknown  among 
them;  there  was  no  malice,  no  envy,  no  misunderstanding, 
no  bitterness,  but  all  was  unity,  peace,  thankfulness  and 
songs  of  praise.  Seldom  or  never  did  they  cease  from  praising 
God  and  praying  to  and  thanking  him  for  the  good  they  had 
done,  sighing  and  grieving  for  what  they  had  done  badly  or 
had  failed  in.  They  felt  that  they  were  deserted  by  God 
when  their  hearts  were  not  penetrated  by  the  sweetness 
of  the  Spirit.  So  as  not  to  fall  asleep  in  their  nightly 
prayers  they  wore  belts,  studded  with  iron  points,  whose 
pricking  prevented  them  from  sleeping.  Filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  they  not  only  prayed  from  the  Breviary  like 
the  Catholic  priests,  but  at  intervals  sang  out  with  sup- 
pliant voice  and  spiritual  melody,  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven? 

The  central  point  in  all  this  brotherly  intercourse  was 
Francis.  From  him  none  of  the  Brothers  kept  anything 
hidden,  but  revealed  the  most  secret  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  their  hearts  to  him.     They  obeyed  him,  and  with  so  loving 

1  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  XV.     Spec,  per/.,  cap.  XXVI. 

2  Celano,  V.  pr..,  I,  XV-XVIII. 


102  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

an  obedience  that  not  only  did  each  one  fulfil  his  behest  but 
also  tried  to  read  his  wish  in  his  slightest  expression. 

The  power  Francis  exercised  rested  first  and  foremost  on 
his  personality.  He  was  the  Brothers'  teacher,  not  only  in 
word  but  also  in  action.  When  he  warned  them  against 
enjoyment  in  eating,  and  even  said  that  it  was  not  possible 
to  eat  to  satiety  without  danger  of  bearing  the  yoke  of  luxury, 
they  understood  his  warning  better  when  they  saw  him 
strew  ashes  on  his  own  food  or  pour  cold  water  on  it  to  take 
away  its  savor.  When  he  told  them  to  fight  heroically  against 
all  temptations,  it  was  he  who  gave  them  an  example  by  jump- 
ing in  winter  into  the  ice-cold  river  to  put  to  flight  a  tempta- 
tion of  the  flesh. 

Every  one  who  has  had  the  happiness  in  his  youth  to  have 
lived  near  a  highly  exalted  personality  will  therefore  under- 
stand that  a  young  Brother  named  Ricerius  had  acquired  the 
conviction  that  the  good-will  of  Francis  was  an  infallible  sign 
of  the  satisfaction  of  God.  But  now  it  came  to  pass  with  him, 
the  last  to  have  come  into  the  Order,  that,  while  Francis 
showed  himself  friendly  and  loving  to  the  others,  he  seemed 
to  make  an  exception  in  his  case  only.  When  Brother  Ricer- 
ius had  once  come  by  this  warped  imagining,  naturally  every 
occasion  served  only  to  implant  it  deeper  within  him.  If 
he  came  out  as  Francis  was  going  in,  he  would  think  Francis 
did  so  to  avoid  being  with  him.  If  Francis  stood  and  talked 
with  others,  and  they  happened  to  look  in  the  direction  of 
Brother  Ricerius,  then  he  would  think  that  they  must  be 
complaining  at  having  taken  him  into  the  Order  and  were 
determining  to  ask  him  to  take  his  leave  again.  Thus  did 
this  young  Brother  misjudge  all  and  was  almost  desperate, 
certain  that  he  was  avoided  and  repelled  by  Francis  and 
consequently  by  God. 

The  sight  of  Brother  Ricerius'  pained  face  and  imploring, 
longing  eyes  seems,  like  a  revelation,  to  have  betrayed  to 
Francis  the  poor  youth's  tribulations.  One  day,  therefore,  he 
had  the  young  Brother  summoned  and  said  to  him:  "My 
dear  son,  let  no  evil  thought  disturb  thee  or  tempt  thee !  Thou 
art  my  own  dear  child,  and  one  of  those  I  think  the  most  of, 
and  as  deserving  of  my  love  as  of  my  confidence.     Come  then 


RIVO     TORTO  IO3 

and  speak  with  me  when  thou  wilt,  and  whenever  anything 
weighs  upon  thee,  thou  art  always  thoroughly  welcome!" 
Overcome,  out  of  his  senses  with  joy,  with  heart  happily 
beating  and  eyes  streaming  with  tears,  the  young  Brother 
left  the  master  and  knew  of  nothing  until  he  in  a  lonely  place 
out  in  the  woods  fell  down  on  his  knees  and  thanked  God  for 
his  happiness.1 

Two^other  stories  that  are  associated  with  Rivo  Torto  tell 
of  the  same  refined,  loving  understanding  of  the  special  trouble 
of  each  individual  Brother. 

One  night  —  thus  it  told  in  Speculum  perfectionis  —  one 
of  the  Brothers  woke  from  sleep  with  loud  cries  and  shouted: 
"Oh,  I  am  dying,  I  am  dying!"  All  the  others  woke,  and 
Francis  said:  "Let  us  get  up,  my  Brothers,  and  light  the 
lamp!"  As  soon  as  the  light  was  lighted,  he  asked:  "Who 
was  that  who  cried  out,  'I  am  dying? "  One  of  the  Brothers 
answered:  "It  was  I!"  And  Francis  asked  further,  "What 
ails  thee,  my  Brother,  to  make  you  die?"  And  he  answered, 
"I  am  dying  of  hunger!" 

Now  this  was  in  the  early  days  of  the  Brotherhood,  and  they 
mortified  and  scourged  their  bodies  beyond  measure.  There- 
fore Francis  had  the  table  at  once  spread  and  sat  at  the  table 
with  the  starving  Brother,  lest  he  should  be  ashamed  to  eat 
alone,  and  he  invited  the  rest  of  the  Brothers  to  take  seats 
at  the  table.     And  after  they  had  eaten,  Francis  said  to  them: 

"My  dear  sons,  I  truly  say  to  you  that  every  one  must 
study  his  own  nature.  Some  of  you  can  sustain  life  with 
less  food  than  others  can,  and  therefore  I  desire  that  he 
who  needs  more  nourishment  shall  not  be  obliged  to  equal 
others,  but  that  every  one  shall  give  his  body  what  it  needs 
for  being  an  efficient  servant  of  the  soul.  For  as  we  are  obliged 
to  be  on  our  guard  against  superfluous  food  which  injures  body 
and  soul  alike,  thus  we  must  be  on  the  watch  against  immoder- 
ate fasting,  and  this  the  more,  because  the  Lord  wants  con- 
version and  not  victims."  2 

Delano,  V.  pr.,  I,  XVIII.  Fioretti,  cap.  XXVII.  Actus  b.Francisci,  cap. 
XXXVII.  —  Brother  Ricerius  is  author  of  a  little  work,  which  by  many  is 
placed  as  high  as  Thomas  a  Kempis'  "Following  of  Christ":  Qualiter  anima 
possit  cito  pervenire  ad  cognitionem  veritatis. 

2  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  XXVII.     Celano,  Vita  secunda,  I,  cap.  XV. 


104  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

A  trait  of  the  same  kind  is  told  of,  when  Francis  rose  early 
one  morning  and  took  a  sick  Brother,  whom  he  thought  it 
would  benefit  to  eat  grapes  fasting,  along  with  him  into  a 
vineyard,  and  there  sat  by  his  side  and  gave  him  grapes  to  eat 
in  company  with  himself,  lest  the  Brother  should  be  ashamed 
of  eating  alone.  It  can  be  understood  that,  as  the  Speculum 
tells  us,  the  Brother,  as  long  as  he  lived,  never  forgot  this  atten- 
tion of  Francis',  and  that  he  never  could  tell  the  other  Brothers 
this  reminiscence  of  his  youth  without  tears  in  his  eyes.1 

The  residence  at  Rivo  Torto  came  to  an  end  in  a  manner  as 
abrupt  as  drastic.  One  day,  as  the  Brothers  were  in  the  shed, 
praying  quietly  each  in  his  place,  a  peasant  suddenly  appeared 
with  his  ass,  which  without  more  ado  he  drove  in,  calling 
out  in  a  loud  voice:  "Go  in,  long  ears,  here  we  can  surely  be 
comfortable."  These  words,  which  seemed  to  be  more  intended 
for  the  Brothers  than  for  the  ass,  showed  that  it  was  his 
intention  to  at  once  change  the  house  of  prayer  into  an  asses' 
stable.  After  a  few  minutes'  contemplation  of  the  man's 
untroubled  demeanor,  Francis  broke  forth: 

"I  know,  Brothers,  that  God  has  not  called  us  to  keep  a 
hotel  for  asses,  but  to  pray  and  show  men  the  way  of  salva- 
tion!"2 

All  then  arose  and  left  Rivo  Torto  for  ever.  From  now  on, 
Portiuncula  was  the  central  point  of  the  Franciscan  movement 
and  soon  put  the  first  modest  abode  completely  in  the  shade. 
And  yet  it  was  there  that  Francis  and  the  mistress  of  his 
heart,  the  noble  Lady  Poverty,  had  spent  their  first  and 
perhaps  happiest  days. 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  XXVIII.  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  III,  no.  According  to 
Wadding  (1210,  n.  50),  this  disciple  was  Silvester. 

2  Tres  Socii,  XIII,  55-     Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  XVI. 


CHAPTER   IV 
PORTIUNCULA   AND   THE  EARLY  DISCIPLES1 

THE  small  and  ancient  chapel  of  Portiuncula,  as  it 
exists  to-day,  is  a  long  room,  with  a  pointed  arched 
ceiling  and  a  semi-circular  apse,  a  gable  roof,  a  simple 
arched  door  in  the  facade,  and  another  in  one  of  the 
side-walls.  According  to  a  tradition  that  for  the  first  time  is 
given  in  Salvator  Vitalis'  Paradisus  Seraphicus  (Milan,  1645), 
the  chapel  was  built  by  five  hermits  during  the  pontificate  of 
Pope  Liberius  in  the  fourth  century,  who  were  returning  home 
from  the  Holy  Land  with  a  relic  of  Mary's  grave,  which  was 
given  to  them  by  St.  Cyril.  In  any  case  there  is  found  over  the 
altar  a  picture  of  great  age,  which  represents  the  assumption 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  into  Heaven;  the  many  angels  who  float 
around  Mary  in  the  picture  gave  the  popular  name  to  the 
chapel  of  "Our  Lady  of  the  Angels."  The  designation  Porti- 
uncula—  "little  portion  of  earth"  —  dates  from  the  Bene- 
dictines on  Monte  Subasio,  to  whom  the  chapel  had  belonged 
ever  since  576.  In  1075  the  building  was  in  such  a  ruinous 
condition  that  the  monks  abandoned  it  and  withdrew  to  the 
mother-house  upon  the  mountain.  According  to  the  legend, 
Pica  had  prayed  in  the  deserted  chapel,  and  here  received  the 
knowledge  that  she  should  have  a  son  who  would  eventually 
rebuild  the  fallen  house  of  God.  After  the  putting  of  it  in 
order,  Francis  and  his  Brothers  usually  kept  themselves  in 
the  forest  which  surrounded  the  church,  and  it  was  a  great 
joy  to  them  when  the  abbey  on  Monte  Subasio,  which  now 
belonged  to  the  Camaldolites,  gave  the  Brethren  the  privilege 
of  using  Portiuncula  for  ever.  For  Francis  was  unwilling  to 
take  possession  of  the  chapel  in  fee  simple,  and  strictly  kept  up 
the  custom  of  sending  every  year  a  basket  of  fish  to  the  monks 
as  payment  of  rent.1 

1ThodeJ  as  before  referred  to,  302-304.  Wadding:  Annates,  12 10,  nn.  27  and  30. 

10S 


106  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

At  the  side  of  the  chapel  Francis  and  his  Brothers  built 
a  hut  of  interwoven  boughs,  plastered  over  with  mud  and 
thatched  with  leaves.  Sacks  of  straw  served  for  beds,  the 
naked  earth  was  both  table  and  chair,  and  the  hedge  served 
for  convent  walls.1  This  was  the  first  Franciscan  luogo  — 
" place"  —  established,  which  according  to  Francis'  expressed 
wish  was  to  be  a  model  for  all  the  others.  When  the  Francis- 
can Order  began  later  to  depart  from  his  ideals,  one  of  the 
signs  of  this  departure  was  that  the  designation  luogo,  locus, 
was  changed  for  the  more  stately  convento,  whence  the 
less  severe  branch  of  the  order  took  a  name  (Conventuals). 
It  was  a  new  brotherhood,  the  "Poor  of  Christ,"  the  Jesuati, 
founded  by  St.  John  Colombini  of  Siena,  who  assumed  the 
old  Franciscan  designation.2 

Besides  the  original  flock  of  disciples,  there  was  now  gathered 
here  in  Portiuncula  a  circle  of  new  Brothers  who  could  prop- 
erly be  called  the  new  generation  of  Franciscans.  By  the 
side  of  Bernard,  Giles,  Angelo  and  Silvester,  tradition  and 
legend,  from  now  on,  placed  a  second  series  of  names:  Rufmo, 
Masseo,  Juniper,  Leo.  Yes,  this  younger  set  is  near  surpassing 
the  others  and  casting  the  older  ones  a  little  into  the  shade. 
It  seems  as  if  many  of  the  older  ones  had  a  certain  inclination 
to  isolate  themselves,  and  set  more  of  a  price  on  solitude  than 
on  community  life.  Thus  Silvester  longed  to  keep  himself 
in  the  caves  of  Carceri  and  there  give  himself  up  to  prayer  and 
meditation.  Bernard  was  so  wrapt  up  in  God,  when  he  was 
in  the  woods,  that  he  did  not  even  hear  Brother  Francis  calling 

1  Spec,  per/.,  capp.  V,  VII,  X. 

2  Three  epochs  can  be  distinguished  in  the  history  of  the  Franciscan  con- 
vents. First  the  Brothers  lived  where  they  worked,  especially  in  hospitals. 
Then  they  had  their  own  loci,  such  as  Portiuncula,  Monte  Ripido  near  Perugia, 
Alberino  near  Siena,  La  Foresta,  Greccio  and  Poggio  Bustone  in  the  valley  of 
Rieti,  le  Pugliole  near  Bologna.  Coincident  with  these  hermitages  were  estab- 
lished the  more  lonely  places  to  which  the  Brothers  sometimes  withdrew  them- 
selves (eremi,  retiri);  this  character  was  to  be  seen  in  Carceri  near  Assisi, 
Cerbajolo  in  Casentino,  Celle  near  Cortona,  Monteluco  near  Spoleto,  Monte 
Casale  near  Borgo  San  Sepoloro,  S.  Urbano  near  Marni,  Fonte  Colombo  in  the 
valley  of  Rieti.  Such  was  the  condition  of  things,  for  instance,  when  Jacques 
de  Vitry  visited  Italy.  Finally,  city  convents  were  erected:  1235,  in  Bologna, 
1 236,  in  Sienna,  and  in  Viterbo,  Florence,  Cortona,  etc.  {Spec,  perf.,  ed.  Sabatier, 
p.  25,  n.  1).  For  the  Jesuati's  luoghi,  see  Feo  Belcari:  Vitad'alcuniGiesuati, 
cap.  I  (ed.  Dragonedelli,  1659,  ed.  Gigli,  1843). 


PORTIUNCULA    AND    DISCIPLES  107 

to  him.  At  other  times  "he  wandered  sometimes  twenty, 
sometimes  thirty  days  at  a  time  alone,  on  the  highest  mountain 
summits,  and  saw  the  things  which  are  on  high." x  Giles 
led  a  life  of  extensive  travelling,  was  now  in  the  Holy  Land, 
now  in  Spain,  now  in  Rome,  now  in  Bari  at  the  shrine  of  St. 
Nicholas. 

Yet  we  will  do  wrong  if  we  follow  the  legends  and  forget 
the  works  of  early  days  on  account  of  the  newer  members. 
This  before  all  applied  to  Brother  Giles,  whom  Francis  called 
by  the  title,  "the  Knight  of  the  Round  Table,"  and  in 
whom  all  of  the  original  Franciscan  spirit  was  vivified  and 
stayed  alive  to  the  last.  Until  his  death,  which  happened  in 
the  year  1262  on  the  festival  of  St.  George,  the  anniversary  of 
his  reception  into  the  Order,  Giles  continued  to  be  God's  good 
knight  and  a  true  St.  George  of  the  noble  Lady  Poverty.  His 
life  is  especially  a  witness  to  the  love  of  labor  of  the  early 
Franciscans.  His  biography  as  it  is  written  by  his  younger 
friend,  Brother  Leo,  is  full  of  such  traits. 

On  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land  he  came  to  Brindisi,  and  as 
there  was  no  chance  of  embarking  there  at  once,  he  had  to 
stay  several  days  in  the  city.  Here  he  begged  an  old  cart, 
rilled  it  with  water  and  dragged  it  through  the  city  streets, 
calling  out  like  the  water-carriers:  "Chi  vuole  delV  aqua} 
Who  wants  water?"  As  pay  for  water  he  took  bread  and 
such  other  things  as  were  needed  by  him  and  his  companions. 
On  the  return  from  the  same  pilgrimage  he  was  put  ashore  at 
Ancona.  Here  too  he  found  employment;  he  went  out  and 
cut  osiers  for  baskets  and  rushes  for  covering  bottles,  he 
plaited  them  and  sold  them,  not  for  money  but  for  bread. 
He  also  carried  bodies  to  the  grave  and  earned  thereby,  not 
only  a  garment  for  himself,  but  also  for  the  Brethren  who 
accompanied  him;  such  deeds -he  wished  to  pray  for  him 
while  he  slept. 

Apparently  it  was  during  this  stay  in  Ancona  that  a  priest 
who  saw  him  coming  home  to  the  town  with  a  bundle  of  rushes 
uttered  the  word  "hypocrite"  as  Giles  passed  him  by.  On 
hearing  this,  Giles  was  so  cast  down  that  he  could  not  keep 
back  the  tears,  and  when  the  Brother  who  accompanied  him 
1Fioretti,  capp.  XVI,  III,  XXVIII. 


108  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

asked  him  the  reason  of  his  distress,  he  answered,  "  Because 
I  am  a  hypocrite,  as  a  priest  to-day  said  to  me."  "  And  does 
that  make  you  believe  that  you  are  one?"  asked  the  Brother. 
"Yes,"  answered  Giles,  "a  priest  cannot  lie!"  Then  his 
companion  had  to  teach  him  that  there  is  a  difference  between 
priests  as  between  men,  and  that,  like  a  man,  a  priest  can 
very  likely  do  wrong,  and  thus  comforted  the  unhappy  Brother 
Giles. 

During  his  visit  in  Rome  Giles  had  arranged  it  so  that  he 
heard  mass  early  in  the  morning,  and  then  went  out  to  a  forest 
at  some  distance  from  the  city.  Here  he  gathered  a  bundle 
of  wood  which  he  carried  back  to  Rome  and  sold  for  bread  and 
other  necessities.  Once  a  lady  wanted  to  give  him  more  for  the 
wood  than  he  had  asked,  as  she  saw  that  it  was  a  religious  who 
was  before  her.  But  Giles  now  would  not  take  more  than 
half  the  former  price.  "  I  will  not  yield  to  avarice,"  he  declared. 

At  the  time  of  the  wine  harvest  he  helped  pluck  grapes,  in 
the  olive  harvest  he  gathered  olives.  He  often  gleaned  corn 
in  the  fields  like  other  paupers,  but  gave  most  of  it  away, 
saying  that  he  had  no  granary  to  keep  it  in.  From  San  Sisto's 
fountain  outside  of  Rome  he  brought  water  to  the  monks  in 
the  convent  of  SS.  Quattro  Coronati,  and  also  helped  the 
convent  cook  in  mixing  bread  and  grinding  flour.  Altogether 
he  took  part  in  all  kinds  of  work  by  which  he  could  support 
himself;  he  only  had  one  invariable  requirement,  the  time 
necessary  to  read  his  Breviary  and  for  meditation. 

In  the  midst  of  this  life  of  ceaseless  industry  he  was  infused 
with  the  deep  Franciscan  goodness.  Once  he  cut  the  hood 
off  of  his  cloak,  while  on  his  way  to  San  Jago  di  Compostella, 
and  gave  it  to  a  poor  person  who  had  asked  for  alms;  he  went 
about  for  the  next  twenty  days  without  any  hood.  As  he 
went  through  Lombardy,  a  man  beckoned  to  him.  Giles 
thought  that  he  wanted  to  give  him  something,  and  approached 
him,  but  with  a  grin  the  man  stuck  a  pair  of  dice  into  his 
hand.  "God  forgive  you,  my  son!"  said  Giles,  and  went  his 
way.  When  carrying  water  to  the  monks  in  Santi  Quattro 
Coronati,  he  was  addressed  by  a  wanderer  on  the  Appian 
Way,  who  wanted  a  drink  from  his  jar.  Giles  refused  it, 
whereupon  the  man  made  an  outcry  in  his  wrath.     Giles 


PORTIUNCULA    AND    DISCIPLES  109 

made  no  response,  but  as  soon  as  he  had  reached  the  convent 
he  got  another  jar,  filled  it,  overtook  the  man  and  asked  him 
to  drink,  saying,  "Do  not  be  angry  with  me,  but  I  did  not 
like  to  take  the  monks  water  that  another  had  tasted  of!" 

Even  when  a  guest  with  such  noble  people  as  the  Bishop  of 
Tusculum,  Cardinal  Nicholas,  he  went  out  and  earned  his 
bread,  which  he  afterwards  ate  at  the  Cardinal's  table.  One 
day  it  rained  in  torrents  and  the  Cardinal  was  rejoicing  that 
Brother  Giles  for  once  would  have  to  eat  of  his  food.  Mean- 
while Giles  went  to  the  kitchen,  found  that  it  was  dirty,  and 
offered  the  cook  to  clean  it  for  a  price  of  two  loaves.  The 
offer  was  accepted,  and  the  Cardinal  was  disappointed  in  his 
hopes.  As  it  rained  the  next  day  also,  Giles  earned  his  two 
loaves  by  polishing  all  the  knives  in  the  house. 

Under  the  title  of  "Brother  Giles's  Wisdom,"  there  are 
collected  a  quantity  of  maxims  and  sayings,  apparently  mostly 
from  his  later  years.  Thus  it  is  told  that  two  cardinals  once 
had  paid  him  a  visit  and  on  leaving  had  politely  recommended 
themselves  to  his  prayers.  "It  is  surely  not  necessary  that 
I  should  pray  for  you,  my  lords,"  was  his  answer,  "for  it  is 
evident  that  you  have  more  faith  and  hope  than  I  have!" 
"How  is  that?"  asked  the  two  princes  of  the  church,  aston- 
ished and  perhaps  a  little  anxiously,  for  Brother  Giles  was 
known  for  his  wit.  "Because  you  who  have  so  much  of  power 
and  honor  and  the  glory  of  this  world  hope  to  be  saved,  and 
I  who  live  so  poorly  and  wretchedly  fear  in  spite  of  all  that 
I  will  be  damned!" 

Until  his  death  Brother  Giles  lived  true  to  the  Franciscan 
ideals  —  poverty,  chastity,  cheerfulness.  A  sonnet  which  he 
composed  in  honor  of  chastity  is  preserved  for  us,  as  well  as 
some  fragments  of  other  verse.  In  his  little  convent  garden 
at  Perugia  he  listened  to  the  cooing  doves,  and  spoke  to  them. 
And  on  beautiful  summer  mornings  he  would  be  seen  wander- 
ing up  and  down  among  his  flower-beds,  singing  the  praises 
of  God,  and  playing  as  if  on  a  violin,  with  two  sticks,  one  of 
which  he  scraped  upon  the  other.1 

1  "pigliando  il  bastoncello  comincio  a  fare  con  esso  a  modo  di  viola,  e  di  qua 
e  di  cola  per  l'orto  discorrendo  a  modo  di  sonatore  di  citara  cantava."  Feo 
Belcari:  Vita  dijrate  Egidio,  cap.  XXV.    {Prose,  ed.  Gigli,  vol.  2,  Roma,  1843.) 


IIO  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

If  the  older  Brothers  lived  thus  much  by  themselves,  we 
find  the  newer  generation  of  Franciscans  almost  always  in  the 
company  of  Francis.  Especially  was  Masseo  of  Marignano, 
near  Assisi,  the  master's  companion  on  many  important 
journeys.  While  Francis  was  "a  very  insignificant  man  and 
of  small  size  and  therefore  was  taken  for  a  poor  being  by 
those  who  did  not  know  him,"  on  the  other  hand  Masseo  was 
"  large  and  fine-looking  and  had  the  gift  of  eloquence  and 
could  speak  with  people."  When  the  two  went  together 
begging,  Francis  got  "nothing  but  a  few  bits  and  remains  of 
bread,  and  that  dry,"  but  Masseo  "got  good  big  pieces,  and 
bread  enough  and  whole  loaves."  Just  the  same  the  tall, 
fine-looking,  eloquent  Masseo  offered  his  services  up  in  Car- 
ceri,  "  to  look  after  the  door,  to  receive  alms  and  to  go  into  the 
kitchen"  so  that  he  alone  would  bear  the  whole  burden  of 
the  house,  while  the  other  Brothers  could  give  themselves 
undisturbedly  to  prayer  and  meditation.  And  once  when  he 
was  walking  with  Francis  and  came  to  a  cross-way  where  one 
could  go  to  Florence,  to  Siena  or  to  Arezzo,  and  Brother 
Masseo  asked,  "Father,  which  way  shall  we  take?"  Francis 
answered  him,  "The  way  God  wishes."  But  Brother  Masseo 
asked  further,  "How  shall  we  know  God's  will?"  And 
Francis  answered:  "That  I  will  now  show  you.  In  the  name 
of  holy  obedience  I  order  you  to  start  turning  round  and 
round  in  the  road  here,  as  the  children  do,  and  not  to  stop 
until  I  tell  you  to."  Then  Brother  Masseo  began  to  whirl 
round  and  round  as  children  do,  and  he  became  so  giddy  that 
he  often  fell  down;  but  as  Francis  said  nothing  to  him,  he  got 
up  again  and  continued.     At  last  as  he  was  turning  round 

He  had  learned  this  way  of  playing  from  his  master,  Francis.  See  Spec,  perf., 
cap.  XCIII,  and  Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  67.  Compare  also  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  101. 
The  Sonnet  to  Chastity  reads  thus: 

O  santa  castitate!  Quanta  e  la  tua  bontate! 

Veramente  tu  se'  preziosa,  e  tale 

E  tanto  soave  il  tuo  ardore 

Che  chi  non  ti  assaggia,  non  sa  quanto  vale. 

Impero  li  stolti  non  conoscono  il  tuo  valore. 
See:  A.  SS.,  Apr.  Ill,  pp.    220  et  seq.;  Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp.  74  et  seq.: 
Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  XVII;  Bernard  of  Bessa:  De  laudibus  (in  Anal. 
Franc,  III),  p.  671;  Doc  Antiq.  Franc,  (ed.  Lemmens),  I  (Quaracchi,  1901),  pp. 
37  etseq.;  Vita  dijrate  Egidio  and  Dottrina  difrate  Egidio  in  appendix  to  Fioretti. 


PORTIUNCULA     AND     DISCIPLES  III 

with  great  vigor,  Francis  said,  "Stop  and  do  not  move!" 
And  he  stood  still,  and  Francis  asked  him,  "How  is  your 
face  turned?"  Brother  Masseo  answered,  "Towards 
Siena!"  Then  said  Francis,  "It  is  God's  will  that  we 
shall  go  to  Siena  to-day." 

Francis  exercised  the  tall  impressive  Brother  Masseo  with 
other  such  humiliations  until  he  felt  humble  and  small.  And 
Masseo  at  last  became  so  deep  in  humility  that  he  regarded 
himself  as  a  great  sinner  and  very  deserving  of  hell,  although 
he  daily  waxed  strong  in  all  virtues.  And  this  humility 
filled  him  with  such  an  inward  light  that  he  was  always  full 
of  joy.  And  often  when  he  prayed  he  would  give  out  a  cry 
of  joy,  a  monotone  like  the  cooing  of  a  dove,  and  with  cheer- 
ful face  and  joyful  heart  he  lived  in  the  sight  of  God  and  yet 
regarded  himself  as  the  most  insignificant  of  men.  But  it 
came  to  pass  in  his  old  age  that  young  Brother  Jacob  of 
Fallerone  asked  him  why  he  did  not  make  a  change  in  his 
way  of  rejoicing  and  make  a  new  verse.  Then  he  answered 
with  great  delight:  "Because  he  who  has  all  his  happiness 
in  only  one  thing  should  not  sing  but  the  one  verse."  l 

Brother  Rufino  of  Assisi  among  the  younger  disciples 
reminds  us  of  Bernard  of  Quintavalle  among  the  older  ones. 
Like  him  he  was  of  noble  family — he  belonged  to  the  noble 
race,  Scifi.  or  Seen.  And  like  Bernard  he  had  an  inclination  to  be 
a  hermit — an  inclination  which  was  so  strong  that  finally  he, 
on  a  single  opportunity  offering  itself,  was  near  leaving  Francis, 
whose  practical  Christianity  appealed  to  him  less  than  a  life 
in  ascetic  solitude,  like  that  of  the  old  hermits  of  the  desert. 
He  was  often  seen  sunk  in  prayer  and  meditation,  so  that  he 
could  scarcely  be  roused  out  of  it,  and  when  he  at  last  was 
awakened,  there  was  no  connection  in  what  he  said.2 

On  the  other  hand,  Brother  Juniper  or  Ginepro  was  entirely 
of  Francis'  spirit.  Of  him  Francis  said  jokingly,  "I  wish  we 
had  a  whole  grove  of  such  juniper  trees!"     It  was  he  who  one 

1  Actus  b.  Francisci  (ed.  Sabatier),  cap.  XI,  cap.  XII,  cap.  XIII,  cap.  XLI. 
Chron.  XXIV  gen.  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp.  115-158.  Fioretti,  capp.  XI,  XII, 
XIII,  XXXII. 

2"Unde  semel  vocatus  a  sociis  ut  iret  pro  pane  .  .  .  respondit:  Frater  a 
te  imo  mo  molto  volontire."  Actus,  cap.  XXXIII.  Compare  Fioretti,  capp. 
XXIX-XXXI;  Chron.  XXIV  gen.,  pp.  46  et  seq.     Rufino  died,  1270,  in  Assisi. 


112  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

day,  when  one  of  the  Brothers  who  lay  sick  in  Portiuncula 
convent  expressed  a  desire  for  boiled  pig's  feet,  sprang  into 
the  woods  and  cut  off  a  foot  from  one  of  the  swine  which  went 
there  after  mast,  and  served  it  to  the  sick  Brother.  After 
him  came  the  peasant  to  whom  the  pig  belonged,  and  com- 
plained to  Francis,  whose  suspicion  fell  upon  Brother  Juniper. 
He  was  called,  and  answered  freely  about  his  action.  "For," 
said  he,  "  our  Brother  got  so  much  good  out  of  the  foot  of  this 
pig  that  I  would  have  no  remorse  if  I  had  cut  the  feet  off 
of  a  hundred  swine!"  With  much  difficulty  Francis  brought 
Brother  Juniper  to  suspect  the  least  wrong  in  such  a  wilful 
trespass  upon  a  neighbor's  goods.  "Very  well,"  said  he  at 
last,  "I  see  that  the  man  is  angry  with  us,  but  now  I  will  try 
to  find  him  and  pacify  him."  And  he  ran  the  best  he  could 
and  found  the  peasant  and  told  him  the  whole  story  —  how 
the  Brother  who  was  sick  wanted  a  cooked  pig's  foot,  that 
pigs  are  made  for  man's  use,  for  his  nourishment  and  food, 
that  everything  belonged  equally  to  all  men,  because  no  one 
can  make  so  much  as  one  little  pig,  but  God  alone  can  do  it, 
and  that  therefore  he  had  taken  the  one  pig's  foot  because 
the  sick  man  had  wanted  it  so  badly. 

All  this  Brother  Juniper  told,  very  explicitly  and  with 
satisfaction,  to  the  angry  peasant,  being  now  sure  that  all  was 
understood  and  that  he  would  be  understood  and  that  the 
amputation  of  the  pig's  foot  would  be  forgiven.  But  it  turned 
out  otherwise,  for  the  man  began  to  abuse  Brother  Juniper, 
calling  him  an  evil-doer,  a  loafer,  a  thief  and  robber,  a  simple- 
ton and  a  fool.  "  Why,  he  cannot  have  understood  me,"  thinks 
Brother  Juniper,  and  begins  anew  his  story,  still  more  impres- 
sively than  before.  Then  when  he  came  to  the  end  he  fell 
on  the  neck  of  the  peasant  and  cried  out,  "See,  I  did  this  for 
my  poor  sick  Brother,  that  he  might  get  well  again,  and  you 
have  helped  me,  so  you  must  cease  being  troubled  or  angry, 
but  let  us  together  rejoice  and  thank  the  good  God  who  gives 
us  the  fruits  of  the  earth  and  the  flocks  of  the  field  and  the 
wild  beasts  of  the  woods,  and  who  wants  us  all  to  be  his 
children  and  to  help  one  another  like  good  brothers  and  sisters. 
Am  I  not  right,  my  dear,  good  brother?"  And  thereupon 
Brother  Juniper  embraced  the  peasant  and  pressed  him  to 


PORTIUNCULA    AND    DISCIPLES  113 

his  heart  and  kissed  him,  and  the  peasant  thought  over  it, 
begged  for  forgiveness  from  God  and  from  the  Brothers  with 
bitter  tears  for  his  hardness,  and  went  away  and  caught  a 
pig  and  slaughtered  it,  cooked  it  and  brought  it  himself  to  the 
convent  at  Portiuncula  as  a  gift  to  the  Brethren. 

The  same  Brother  Juniper  was  once  in  a  little  convent,  and 
the  time  came  for  the  other  Brothers  to  leave  it  to  go  each 
to  his  work.  As  they  went  off,  the  guardian  Brother  gave 
instructions  to  Brother  Juniper  and  said  to  him,  "Take  good 
care  of  the  house  while  we  are  away,  and  cook  a  little  food 
before  we  return."  "Depend  upon  me,"  answered  Brother 
Juniper,  and  the  others  went  on. 

When  he  was  alone  he  began  to  reflect  over  what  he  had 
been  told,  and  said  to  himself  as  he  went  on  chopping  wood 
and  gathering  some  twigs  to  make  the  fire  with:  "Is  it  not 
really  unreasonable  that  a  Brother  should  thus  be  in  the 
kitchen  every  day  and  use  up  his  time  there  without  being 
able  to  pray  a  little  bit?  I  shall  certainly  see  to  it,  so  that 
to-day  there  shall  be  prepared  so  much  food,  that  even  if  the 
Brothers  were  many  more  they  would  have  enough  to  eat 
for  the  next  two  weeks!"  Having  reached  this  determina- 
tion Brother  Juniper  went  to  the  neighboring  city,  and  pur- 
chased there  a  lot  of  clay  pots,  together  with  meat,  game,  eggs 
and  a  quantity  of  vegetables.  He  lit  a  big  wood  fire,  filled 
the  pots  with  water  and  put  all  the  food  into  them,  chickens 
with  the  game,  all  unplucked,  the  vegetables  without  washing, 
and  the  rest  in  the  same  style. 

The  Brothers  came  home  as  Brother  Juniper  was  in  full 
blast  with  his  cooking.  A  huge  fire  was  roaring  away,  and 
Brother  Juniper  jumped  from  one  pot  to  the  other  so  that  it 
was  a  joy  to  see  him,  and  stirred  them  with  a  long  stick,  because 
the  fire  was  so  hot  that  he  could  not  get  near  the  pots.  At 
last  he  rang  the  dinner  bell,  and  red  with  his  exertions  and  the 
heat  of  the  fire,  he  carried  in  his  dishes  of  food  and  set  them 
down  before  the  assembled  Brethren,  saying:  "Eat  now,  and 
then  we  will  go  to  our  prayers!  I  have  cooked  so  much  food 
to-day  that  there  is  enough  to  last  us  for  the  next  two  weeks!" 
Meanwhile,  none  of  the  Brethren  touched  the  food  which 
Brother  Juniper  vainly  with  great  eloquence  offered  them  as  a 
9 


114  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

great  feast.  But  as  it  dawned  upon  Brother  Juniper  what 
he  had  done  he  cast  himself  at  their  feet,  kneeling  and  strik- 
ing his  breast,  and  blamed  himself  for  having  spoiled  so  much 
good  food. 

It  was  not  always  pure  naivete  that  was  at  the  bottom  of 
such  actions.  Sometimes  Brother  Juniper  wished  in  this 
burlesque  manner  to  give  others  of  the  Brethren  a  lesson 
which  might  be  needed  as  they  departed  from  the  spirit  of 
the  Order.  Possibly,  the  Brothers  to  whom  he  served  the  wild 
lobscouse  had  shown  too  great  interest  and  had  spent  too 
much  time  in  the  cooking  department.  A  reprimand  of  the 
best  kind  was  given  by  Brother  Juniper  when,  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  he  served  porridge  with  a  big  lump  of  butter  in 
the  middle  to  his  superior,  who  had  reproved  him  the  preced- 
ing afternoon  for  his  too  great  generosity  in  giving  alms. 
"  Father,"  said  Brother  Juniper  as  he  stood  before  his  door 
with  the  plate  of  porridge  in  one  hand  and  a  lighted  candle 
in  the  other,  "  to-day  when  you  reprimanded  me  for  my  fault 
I  noticed  that  you  were  very  hoarse  from  excitement.  Now 
I  have  prepared  this  porridge  for  you  and  beg  you  to  eat  it; 
it  is  good  for  the  throat  and  chest! "  The  superior,  who  under- 
stood the  meaning  of  this  untimely  attention,  harshly  told 
Brother  Juniper  to  go  away  with  his  foolish  tricks.  "Well," 
said  he,  "the  porridge  is  cooked  and  has  to  be  eaten,  so  you 
hold  the  light  while  I  do  the  eating!"  The  other  was  enough 
of  a  Franciscan  to  answer  this  boldness  by  sitting  down  at 
the  table  with  Brother  Juniper  and  sharing  the  porridge  with 
him. 

Such  actions  resulted  in  making  Brother  Juniper  famous, 
and  people  used  to  collect  together  when  he  was  coming,  to 
see  him.  It  so  happened  that  he  was  once  sent  to  Rome, 
and  several  prominent  persons  —  of  the  same  type  of  the 
ladies  rustling  in  silks  and  smelling  of  perfume,  who  in  our 
days  are  seen  lorgnetting  the  martyrs'  graves  in  the  cata- 
combs —  presented  themselves  at  his  door  for  the  purpose 
of  meeting  him.  Brother  Juniper  had  been  told  about  it  and 
prepared  at  once  to  play  a  trick  on  their  curiosity  masquer- 
ading as  piety.  In  a  field  by  the  roadside  a  couple  of  boys 
were  playing  seesaw,  having  placed  a  plank  across  a  support, 


PORTIUNCULA    AND    DISCIPLES         115 

each  sitting  on  his  own  end  of  the  plank  and  going  up  and 
down  alternately.  So  Brother  Juniper  took  the  place  of 
one  of  the  boys,  and  when  the  noble  company  came  along, 
they  were  much  surprised  to  find  the  man  of  God  busily 
engaged  in  seesawing.  None  the  less  they  greeted  him  with 
great  deference  and  next  waited  for  him  to  stop  his  play  and 
come  out  to  them.  But  Brother  Juniper  troubled  himself 
little  about  their  greeting  and  waiting;  on  the  contrary,  he 
gave  the  more  energy  to  his  seesawing.  And  after  the 
strangers  had  waited  thus  a  reasonable  time,  and  Brother 
Juniper  kept  on  seesawing,  they  went  away  irritated,  as  they 
mutually  agreed  that  the  so-called  holy  Brother  was  an 
entirely  common  peasant  and  lout,  void  of  all  culture.  Then 
only  did  Brother  Juniper  leave  his  seesawing,  and  went  on  to 
Rome  in  peace  and  alone. 

Like  Brother  Leo  and  Brother  Angelo  Tancredi  of  Rieti, 
Brother  Juniper  belonged  to  the  small  select  circle  who, 
after  the  master's  death,  associated  themselves  with  St. 
Clara.  Brother  Juniper  was  present  with  the  other  two  at 
the  death-bed  of  St.  Clara.  "What  is  the  news  from  God?" 
she  asked  cheerfully,  as  this  loyal  disciple  of  Francis  showed 
himself  at  her  bedside,  and  he  sat  down  by  her  and  spoke 
" flaming  sparks  of  words."  l 

A  chip  of  the  same  block  as  Brother  Juniper  was  that 
Brother  John,  who  bore  the  surname  "the  simple,"  whose 
calling  to  enter  the  order  is  told  in  the  following  recital : 

"When  the  Brethren  were  living  at  Portiuncula  and  were 
now  many  in  number,  St.  Francis  went  around  to  the  towns 
and  churches  in  the  vicinity  of  Assisi,  and  preached  to  the 
people,  that  they  should  be  converted,  and  he  had  a  broom 
with  him  to  clean  the  churches  of  dirt,  for  it  made  St.  Francis 
very  unhappy  when  he  saw  that  a  church  was  not  as  clean 

1  "Inter  quos  dum  apparet  frater  Juniperus,  egregius  Domini  jaculator" 
(undoubtedly  joculator,  compare  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  100)  "...  nova  hilaritate 
perfusa  quaerit,  si  aliquid  novi  de  Domino  habet  ad  manum.  Qui  aperiens  os 
suum,  de  fornace  fervidi  cordis  flammantes  verborum  scintillas  emittit."  (Vita 
S.  Clarae,  Acta  SS.,  Aug.  II,  cap.  VI,  n.  51.)  See  also  Vita  di  frate  Ginepro 
in  the  appendix  to  Fioretti  with  the  extract  from  Chronica  XXIV  gen.  (Analecta 
Franciscana,  III,  pp.  54  et  seq.).  Brother  Juniper  died  1258;  according  to  Wad- 
ding he  entered  the  order  in  1210.    (Wadding,  Annates,  1210,  n.  36, 1258,  n.  10.) 


Il6  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

as  he  wished.  And  therefore  he  sometimes  stopped  in  his 
preaching  and  gathered  the  priests  around  him  in  some  re- 
tired place  so  that  no  one  else  should  hear,  and  preached  on 
the  salvation  of  souls  and  especially  on  keeping  the  churches 
and  altars  clean  and  all  that  had  to  do  with  the  celebration 
of  the  holy  mysteries. 

"And  one  day  he  came  to  a  village  in  the  environs  of  Assisi 
and  started  in  all  humility  to  sweep  and  clean  it.  But  the 
rumor  of  who  was  there  ran  through  the  whole  place,  and  a 
peasant  who  was  ploughing  his  field  also  heard  of  it  and 
came  at  once  and  found  him  busy  sweeping  the  church.  But 
the  peasant,  whose  name  was  John,  said  to  him,  'Brother, 
give  me  the  broom  and  let  me  help  you!'  And  he  took  the 
broom  out  of  his  hand  and  swept  vigorously.  Then  they  sat 
down  together  and  he  said  to  St.  Francis:  'Brother,  for  a 
long  time  I  have  had  a  desire  to  serve  God,  and  especially 
after  I  heard  of  thee  and  thy  Brethren,  but  I  never  knew  how 
I  could  meet  thee.  It  has  now  pleased  God  to  bring  us  to- 
gether, so  I  will  do  all  thou  wishest.' 

"When  St.  Francis  perceived  so  great  a  zeal  he  rejoiced  in 
the  Lord,  especially  because  at  this  time  he  had  only  a  few 
Brothers,  and  it  seemed  to  him  that  this  simple  and  upright 
man  could  become  a  good  Brother.  Therefore  he  said  to 
him:  'Brother,  if  you  have  it  in  your  mind  to  live  like  us,  you 
must  free  yourself  of  all  the  possessions  you  can  dispose  of, 
and  you  must  give  them  to  the  poor  after  the  counsels  of  the 
gospel,  for  thus  have  all  my  Brothers  done  each  in  his  own 
way.' 

"When  he  had  heard  this  he  turned  back  to  the  field  where 
he  had  left  the  oxen  standing  in  the  plough,  unyoked  them, 
and  brought  one  of  them  back  to  St.  Francis.  'Brother/ 
said  he  to  him,  'it  is  now  many  years  that  I  have  served  my 
father  and  all  in  the  house;  I  intend,  therefore,  as  my  portion 
by  inheritance,  to  take  this  ox  and  give  it  to  the  poor,  in  the 
way  that  shall  seem  best  to  you.' 

"But  when  his  parents  and  his  sisters,  who  were  all  younger 
than  he,  heard  that  he  was  going  to  leave  them,  they  began 
to  cry  so  strongly  and  so  long  that  St.  Francis  was  moved  to 
pity,  because  they  were  many  and  could  do  nothing.    There- 


PORTIUNCULA    AND     DISCIPLES  117 

fore  he  said  to  them:  'This  your  son  wants  to  serve  God, 
and  that  should  not  displease  you  in  him,  but  you  should  rather 
rejoice  over  it.  But  so  that  you  in  the  meanwhile  shall  not 
be  without  comfort,  I  will  have  him  give  you  this  ox,  just  as 
he  would  have  given  it  to  the  other  poor,  as  the  gospel  teaches 
us/  Then  they  were  all  comforted  with  the  words  St.  Fran- 
cis said,  and  still  more  that  they  had  got  the  ox  back.  .  .  . 

"But  Brother  John  was  clothed  in  the  habit  of  the  Order, 
and  so  great  was  his  simplicity  that  he  thought  he  was  obliged 
to  do  all  that  St.  Francis  did.  When  therefore  St.  Francis 
was  in  a  church  or  other  place  to  pray,  he  watched  him  closely 
so  as  to  follow  all  his  ways  and  movements.  And  when  St. 
Francis  bent  the  knee  or  lifted  his  hands  to  heaven,  or  spit, 
or  sighed,  then  he  did  exactly  the  same.  But  as  St.  Francis 
became  aware  of  this,  he  scolded  him  very  cheerfully  about  it. 
Then  Brother  John  answered,  'Brother,  I  have  promised  to 
do  all  that  you  do,  and  therefore  it  is  fit  that  I  copy  you  in 
all  things."'1 

Francis'  special  confidant  and  best  friend  among  the  younger 
ones,  yes,  among  all  the  disciples  at  this  time,  was  Brother 
Leo  of  Assisi,  who  filled  the  office  of  his  amanuensis  and 
secretary.  Francis  called  him,  perhaps  with  a  wilful  opposi- 
tion to  his  name  Leone  (lion), /rate  pecorella  di  Dio,  "Brother 
little  lamb  of  God." 

It  was  together  with  him  that  Francis  —  according  to  the 
Fioretti  —  was  once  in  a  place  where  they  had  no  Breviary 
to  pray  out  of.  So  as  to  spend  the  time  in  praising  God, 
Francis  proposed  the  following  part-prayer:  "I  shall  first 
say, '  O  Brother  Francis,  you  have  done  so  much  ill  and  com- 
mitted so  many  sins  here  in  the  world,  that  you  are  worthy 
to  go  to  hell.  And  to  this  you  must  answer:  'Yes,  it  is  true 
that  you  deserve  the  deepest  hell.'" 

And  blithe  as  a  dove  Brother  Leo  answered:  "Willingly, 
Father.     Let  us  begin  in  the  name  of  God!" 

Then  Francis  began  to  say,  "0  Brother  Francis,  thou  hast 

1  Spec,  perf.,  capp.  LVI-LVII.  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  III,  120.  The  village 
where  Francis  met  the  simple  Brother  John  is  called  Nottiano,  and  is  about 
three  hours  east  of  Assisi;  the  tale  still  lives  in  the  mouths  of  the  people  as  it 
is  told  here.  Not  far  off,  near  a  place  called  Le  Coste,  is  seen  a  cave  in  which 
Francis  is  supposed  to  have  dwelt.     (Le  Specchio  di  perf.,  Assisi,  1899,  p.  121.) 


Il8  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

done  so  much  evil  and  committed  so  many  sins  here  in  the 
world  that  thou  art  worthy  to  go  to  hell."  And  Brother 
Leo  answered,  "God  will  do  so  much  good  through  thee  that 
thou  shalt  come  into  paradise."  Then  Francis  answered: 
"Do  not  say  that,  Brother  Leo,  but  when  I  now  say,  '  Brother 
Francis,  thou  hast  done  so  much  wrong  before  God  that  thou 
art  worthy  to  be  damned!'  then  answer  thus:  'Thou  art 
certainly  worthy  to  come  among  the  damned!'" 
And  Brother  Leo  answered,  "Willingly,  Father!" 
Then  Francis  began  to  sigh  and  groan  and  beat  his  breast, 
and  said  in  a  loud  voice,  "O  Lord,  God  of  heaven  and  earth, 
I  have  committed  such  wrong  against  thee  and  so  many  sins 
that  I  am  worthy  to  be  damned  by  thee."  And  Brother 
Leo  answered,  "O  Brother  Francis,  God  will  do  such  things 
with  thee  that  thou  shalt  be  happy  before  all  the  Blest." 
But  Francis  wondered  why  Brother  Leo  was  so  set  in  not 
answering  as  he  had  been  told  to,  and  he  scolded  him  for 
it,  saying:  "Why  dost  thou  not  answer  as  I  told  thee  to?  In 
the  name  of  holy  obedience  I  order  thee  to  answer  as  I 
now  will  teach  thee.  Thus  I  say:  '  O  thou  bad  Francis,  dost 
thou  think  that  God  will  have  pity  on  thee,  that  hast 
committed  so  many  sins  against  the  Father  of  mercy  and 
God  of  comfort,  that  thou  in  no  way  art  worthy  to  find 
mercy?'  And  thou  Brother  Leo,  God's  little  lamb,  answer: 
'  Thou  art  in  no  way  worthy  to  find  mercy! ' "  But  as  Francis 
said  after  this,  "  O  thou  bad  Francis,"  etc.,  Brother  Leo 
answered  him,  "The  Father  God,  whose  mercy  is  infinitely 
greater  than  thy  transgressions,  will  show  thee  great  mercy 
and  will  moreover  manifest  to  thee  much  favor."  Over  this 
answer  Francis  was  very  angry  and  a  little  carried  away,  and 
he  said  to  Brother  Leo:  "Why  hast  thou  fallen  so  as  to 
show  thyself  disobedient?  Now  thou  hast  so  many  times 
answered  the  opposite  of  what  I  told  thee."  But  Brother 
Leo  humbly  and  reverentially  answered,  "God  knows,  Father, 
that  every  time  I  have  wished  to  answer  thee  as  thou  com- 
mandest  me  to;  but  God  forced  me  to  speak  as  it  pleased 
him,  and  not  as  it  pleased  me."  Francis  wondered  greatly 
over  this,  and  said  to  Brother  Leo,  "I  pray  thee  in  char- 
ity to  answer  me  this  time  as  I  have  told  thee."     Brother 


PORTIUNCULA    AND    DISCIPLES  119 

Leo  replied,  "In  God's  name  I  will  certainly  answer  every 
time  as  thou  wishest  it."  And  with  tears,  Francis  now  said, 
"0  thou  wicked  Brother  Francis,  dost  thou  believe  that  God 
can  have  mercy  upon  thee?"  Brother  Leo  answered:  "Thou 
shalt  have  great  favors  from  God,  and  he  shall  raise  thee 
up  and  glorify  thee  for  all  eternity,  for  he  who  lowers  himself 
shall  be  exalted;  and  I  cannot  say  anything  else,  for  God  is 
speaking  through  my  mouth." 

It  was  also  in  company  with  Brother  Leo  that  Francis  — 
always  according  to  the  Fioretti  —  went  one  winter  day  from 
Perugia  to  Portiuncula,  and  the  great  cold  affected  them 
severely.  And  Francis  called  to  Brother  Leo,  who  went 
ahead,  and  spoke  thus  to  him,  "Brother  Leo,  even  if  we 
Brothers  over  the  whole  earth  give  good  examples  of  holiness 
and  edification,  mark  it  well  and  write  it  down,  that  in  that 
is  not  the  perfect  happiness." 

And  Francis  went  a  little  further,  and  he  called  a  second 
time  and  said:  "O  Brother  Leo,  even  if  we  Brothers  gave  the 
blind  their  sight  again,  cured  the  lame,  drove  out  devils, 
made  the  deaf  to  hear,  the  cripples  to  walk,  the  dumb  to  talk, 
and,  what  is  still  more,  woke  the  dead  after  four  days  had 
passed,  mark  thou,  that  in  that  there  is  not  perfect  happiness." 

And  he  went  on  a  little  and  called  out  loudly:  "O  Brother 
Leo,  even  if  we  Brothers  spoke  all  tongues  and  knew  all 
wisdom  and  the  whole  of  the  Scriptures,  and  were  able  to 
reveal  the  future  and  the  secrets  of  the  heart,  so  mark  thou, 
that  in  that  there  is  not  perfect  happiness." 

And  Francis  went  on  a  piece  more  and  then  called  with  a 
high  voice:  "O  Brother  Leo,  thou  God's  little  lamb,  even  if 
we  Brothers  spoke  with  the  tongues  of  angels  and  knew  the 
courses  of  the  stars  and  the  powers  of  herbs,  and  all  the 
treasures  of  the  earth  were  revealed  to  us,  and  all  the  virtues 
and  powers  of  birds  and  beasts  and  fishes  and  also  the  proper- 
ties of  mankind  and  of  trees  and  stones  and  roots  and  water, 
mark  thou  this  still,  that  in  that  there  is  not  perfect  happi- 
ness." 

And  Francis  went  on  a  little  further,  and  then  said  with  a 
loud  voice:  "O  Brother  Leo,  even  if  we  Brothers  knew  how 
to  preach  so  that  all  the  faithless  would  be  converted  to  the 


120  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

faith  of  Christ,  mark  thou  still,  that  in  that  there  is  not  perfect 
happiness." 

And  thus  he  talked  for  more  than  half  the  way.  But  at 
last  Brother  Leo  said  with  much  wonder,  "Father,  I  beg 
thee  for  God's  sake  to  tell  me  where  perfect  happiness  can 
be  found."     And  Francis  answered  him: 

"When  we  come  to  Portiuncula  and  are  wet  through  with 
rain,  and  frozen  with  cold,  and  dirty  with  the  mud  of  the  road, 
and  overcome  with  hunger,  and  we  knock  on  the  convent 
door,  and  the  porter  comes  and  is  angry  and  says,  'Who  are 
you?'  and  we  say,  'We  are  two  of  thy  Brothers,'  and  he 
says:  'You  do  not  speak  the  truth,  but  are  two  highway 
robbers  who  go  about  and  deceive  people  and  steal  alms 
from  the  poor;  away  with  you!'  When  he  speaks  thus  and 
will  not  open  the  door  for  us,  but  lets  us  stand  out  in  the  cold 
and  snow  and  water  and  hunger,  and  the  night  falls,  and 
when  we  endure  such  abusive  words  and  such  a  wickedness 
and  such  treatment,  and  endure  it  without  becoming  angry 
and  without  quarrelling  with  him,  and  when  we  instead  think 
in  humility  and  love  that  the  porter  knows  us  as  we  really  are, 
and  that  it  is  God  who  lets  him  talk  against  us  —  O  Brother 
Leo,  mark  thou,  that  is  perfect  happiness! 

"And  if  we  keep  on  knocking,  and  he  comes  out  and  is 
angry  and  treats  us  like  a  pair  of  thieves  and  hunts  us  away 
with  evil  words  and  with  ear-boxing,  and  says  to  us,  'Get 
out,  ye  shameless  rascals,  go  to  the  lepers,  here  you  will  find 
neither  food  nor  lodging!'  and  we  bear  this  too  with  patience 
and  cheerfulness  and  charity  —  O  Brother  Leo,  mark  thou, 
that  therein  is  perfect  happiness. 

"  And  if  we,  driven  by  cold  and  hunger  and  by  the  night, 
knock  again  and  beg  him  with  bitter  tears  that  he  for  God's 
sake  will  let  us  in,  if  only  across  the  threshold,  and  he  gets 
still  more  angry  and  says,  'You  are  certainly  shameless  vaga- 
bonds, but  now  you  will  get  your  deserts,'  and  he  runs  out 
with  a  knotted  stick,  and  seizes  us  by  the  hoods  and  throws 
us  to  the  ground  and  rolls  us  in  the  snow  and  nearly  kills  us 
with  the  stick;  and  if  we  endure  all  this  so  patiently,  and 
think  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  the  All-praised  One,  and 
of  how  much  we  ought  to  suffer  for  the  sake  of  our  love  of 


PORTIUNCULA    AND     DISCIPLES  121 

him  —  O  Brother  Leo,  mark  thou,  that  in  this  is  perfect 
happiness. 

"Now  hear  the  end  of  all  this,  Brother  Leo!  More  than 
all  grace  and  all  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  Christ 
vouchsafes  to  his  friends,  is  the  conquering  of  yourself  and 
the  willing  endurance  of  suffering,  injustice,  contempt  and 
harshness.  For  of  the  other  gifts  of  God,  we  cannot  take 
any  credit  to  ourselves,  for  they  are  not  ours  but  come  from 
God;  so  that  the  Apostle  says:  'What  hast  thou  that  thou 
hast  not  received?  But  after  you  have  received  it,  why  do 
you  take  credit  for  it,  as  if  you  had  it  of  yourselves?'  But 
of  trials  and  sufferings  and  crosses  we  can  take  the  credit  to 
ourselves :  therefore  the  Apostle  also  says,  '  I  will  take  credit 
for  nothing  except  for  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'"1 

Ernest  Renan  has  justly  said  that  since  the  time  of  the 
Apostles  there  has  never  been  a  more  powerful  attempt  to 
put  the  gospel  into  practice  than  in  the  movement  started  by 
Francis.  It  is  no  wonder  then  one  night  in  a  vision  a  pious 
man  thought  that  he  saw  all  men  who  were  alive  in  the  world, 
stand  like  blind  people  around  Portiuncula  and,  with  folded 
hands  and  faces  lifted  to  heaven,  call  to  God  to  give  them 
back  their  sight,  and  as  they  stood  thus  the  heavens  opened, 
and  a  great  light  fell  upon  Portiuncula,  and  all  who  stood 
about  it  and  who  had  been  blind,  opened,  their  eyes  and  saw 
the  light  of  salvation.2 

1  Fioretti,  cap.  IX  and  cap.  VIII  (which  last  seems  to  be  a  further  develop- 
ment of  the  fifth  of  the  Admonitiones,  which  Francis  had  written;  Opicscula, 
Quaracchi,  1904,  pp.  8-9).  See  further,  Chron. XXIV  gen.  {Anal.  Franc,  III, 
pp.  65  et  seq.)  Br.  Leo  died  November  14  or  15,  1271  (Wadding,  1271,  nn.  7  et 
seq.). 

2  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XIII,  n.  56.    Celano,  Vita  sec,  I,  13. 


CHAPTER  V 

ST.  CLARA   AND  SAN  DAMIANO 

WHILE  men  sometimes  must  be  satisfied  to  repre- 
sent theory,  practice,  often  outside  of  all  theory, 
is  the  vocation  of  woman.  No  one  ever  realizes 
more  fully  a  man's  ideal  than  a  woman,  once 
she  is  possessed  by  it. 

This  must  not  be  taken  to  intimate  that  Francis  of  Assisi 
did  not  put  into  practice  the  gospel  which  he  preached  —  on 
the  contrary!  But  if  one  wishes  to  see  the  Franciscan  life 
in  a  form  free  from  all  enforced  additions  and  unfavorable 
foreign  influences,  one  must  above  all  others  turn  to  his  great 
female  disciple,  St.  Clara  of  Assisi.  She  was  accustomed  to 
call  herself  Brother  Francis'  Plant.1  She  is  really  the  flower 
of  Franciscanism,  and  he  who  visits  the  places  where  she  has 
lived,  inhales  even  after  seven  hundred  years  have  gone  the 
singularly  pure  and  heart-gripping  perfume  of  this  flower. 

Clara  was  born  in  Assisi  in  1194,  probably  on  July  n.  Her 
father  was  Favorini  dei  Scifi,  her  mother  Ortolana  of  the 
Fiumi  family,  belonging  in  Sterpeto.  The  family  was  noble 
on  both  sides,  and  the  Scifi  belonged  to  the  most  prominent 
family  in  Assisi.2  Favorino  bore  the  title  of  Count  of  Sasso- 
Rosso,  the  name  of  the  cliff  that  rises  over  Assisi:  his  forti- 
fied palace  is  still  shown  to  visitors,  near  the  Porta  Vecchia, 
not  far  from  the  church  of  St.  Clara.3     Ortolana  gave  him 

l"  Clara  indigna  ancilla  Christi  et  plantula  beatissimi  patris  Francisci." 
Reg.  S.  Clarae,  cap.  I  (Textus  originates,  Quaracchi,  1897,  p.  52). 

2"Frater  Rufinus  Cipii  .  .  .  de  nobilioribus  civibus  Assissii,  consanguineus 
S.  Clarae."     {Anal.  Franc,  III,  46.) 

3  This  statement  I  have  taken  from  Locateli's  Biography  of  St.  Clara; 
unfortunately  I  have  only  been  able  to  use  this  work  in  a  French  translation 
(St.  Claire  d'Assise,  Rome,  1899-1900),  as  the  original  Italian  work  is  not 
obtainable  (Vita  breve  di  S.  Chiara,  Assisi,  1882).  Other  sources  for  the  life  of 
St.  Clara  are  the  following: 

Her  testament:  published  by  the  Bollandists  in  the  second  August  volume 


Photo :  G.  Carloforti 

ST.     CLARA     OF    ASSISI     AND    SCENES 

FROM     HER     LIFE 

(Ascribed  to  Cimabue.      Fresco  in  Church  of  Santa  Cbiara,  Assisi) 


ST.  CLARA  AND  SAN  DAMIANO     123 

five  children  —  a  son,  Boso,  and  four  daughters,  Penenda, 
Clara,  Agnes  and  Beatrice. 

It  is  told  of  Ortolana  that  she  was  a  good  and  pious  child, 
and  among  other  things  had  undertaken  such  dangerous  and 
prolonged  pilgrimages  as  to  the  Holy  Land,  to  Bari,  and  to 
Rome.  Shortly  before  Clara  was  born,  she  is  said  to  have 
received  in  prayer  the  promise  of  God  that  the  child  she  was 
to  bear  would  be  a  light  for  the  whole  world.  As  a  sequence 
thereof  the  child  was  given  in  baptism  the  name  Clara,  the 
bright;  in  metaphorical  rendering,  the  celebrated  one. 

Clara  grew  up  in  her  home  surrounded  by  the  prosperity 
and  order  which  are  so  favorable  for  the  development  of  a 
sure  and  reasonable  fear  of  God.  Moral  disorder  leads 
almost  invariably  to  poverty,  while  the  fear  of  God  is  "useful 
for  all  things,"  and  "has  also  promises  for  this  life."  It  is 
not  only  in  our  days  that  the  answer  to  the  question,  "How 
shall  I  get  on  in  the  world?"  has  been,  "Fear  God  and  keep 
his  commandments."  For  up  to  a  certain  degree  it  is  also 
true  what  the  apologists  evidently  push  too  far,  when  they 
adduce,  as  a  proof  of  the  superiority  of  a  religion,  the  statis- 
tics of  its  millionaires. 

Little  Clara  at  a  very  young  age  went  far  beyond  the  usual 
degree  of  piety.  A  favorite  reading  in  her  time  was  the 
stories  of  the  lives  of  the  old  ascetics  —  Vitae  patrum.  Ap- 
parently Clara  had  made  early  acquaintance  with  these  leg- 
ends: in  any  case,  we  read  of  her  that  she  as  a  little  girl 
greatly  longed  to  wear  a  garment  of  horsehair,  and  that  she, 

of  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  pp.  747  et  seq.,  and  by  the  Franciscans  of  Quaracchi 
in  Textus  originates  (Quaracchi,  1897),  pp.  273  et  seq. 

Alexander  IV's  Bull  of  Canonization  Clara  claris  of  September  26,  1255,  A. 
SS.  Aug.  II,  pp.  749  et  seq. 

Her  Biography  written  by  Messer  Bartholomew,  Bishop  of  Spoleto,  in 
collaboration  with  Brother  Leo  and  Brother  Angelo  of  Rieti  and  revised  for 
style  by  Thomas  of  Celano,  to  whom  also  the  preface  is  due.  It  is  printed  by 
the  Bollandists  as  above,  pp.  754  et  seq.  See  Cozza  Luzi:  77  Codice  maglia- 
becchiano  nella  Storia  di  S.  Chiara  in  the  Bolletino  delta  Societd  Umbra  di  Storia 
P atria,  I  (Perugia,  1895),  pp.  417-426. 

Her  four  letters  to  Agnes  of  Bohemia,  printed  in  A.  SS.,  March  I,  pp.  506-508, 
the  first  also  (and  from  a  better  manuscript)  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  183,  n.  7. 

Several  places  in  the  biographies  of  St.  Francis. 

Letters  to  her  from  her  sister  Agnes,  from  Cardinal  Hugolin.  (Wadding, 
1221;  Analecta  Franc,  III,  pp.  175-177  and  p.  183.) 


124  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

just  as  the  hermit  Paul  of  Pherme  in  Historia  Lausiaca, 
daily  recited  a  great  number  of  prayers  which  she  kept  count 
of  with  the  help  of  little  stones.  While  she  thus  did  penance 
herself,  she  was,  like  all  the  pious  of  the  Middle  Ages,  very 
zealous  in  giving  to  the  poor. 

Thus  Clara  grew  up  and  became  strong  and  beautiful. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  years  she  had  her  first  suitor  and  one 
pleasing  in  the  highest  degree  to  her  parents.  When  they 
spoke  to  their  daughter  about  him,  they  met  to  their  surprise 
a  certain  resistance.  Clara  would  not  hear  of  marrying,  and 
when  her  mother  pressed  her  for  a  reason,  the  daughter  ad- 
mitted that  she  had  consecrated  herself  to  God  and  wanted 
nothing  of  any  man. 

This  was  more  piety  than  Favorino  and  Ortolana  had 
counted  on.  The  regular,  everyday  Christianity  had  —  in  the 
Middle  Ages  just  as  in  our  days  —  a  great  dislike  for  all  that 
seemed  to  be  "too  much  of  religion."  Over  and  over  again 
we  are  witnesses  in  the  history  of  those  times  of  the  bitter 
disputes  which  father  and  mother  carried  on  with  sons  and 
daughters  whose  fear  of  God  seemed  to  them  to  go  beyond 
the  proper  bounds  of  a  good  citizenship.1 

The  sixteen  year  old  Clara  must  now  fight  this  battle,  but 
she  had  the  good  fortune  not  to  be  without  support  in  the 
contest.  It  was  at  this  precise  time  that  Francis,  whose 
conversion  had  attracted  such  attention  in  Assisi,  was  re- 

1  Thus  we  read  in  Feo  Belcari's  Vite  d'alcuni  Gesuati  the  highly  characteristic 
chapter  XXIV.  A  young  man  in  Arezzo,  by  name  Donato,  entered  a  convent 
of  the  Jesuati's  Order,  but  was  taken  to  his  home  by  his  family  by  force.  Here 
his  father  locked  him  up  in  a  room  and  for  the  sake  of  greater  safety  tied  one 
leg  to  the  wall.  The  son,  however,  remained  true  to  his  project,  although 
father  and  brothers  took  away  his  Order's  habit  and  gave  him  ordinary  clothes; 
"You  can  change  my  clothes,  not  my  heart,"  said  he.  Then  the  father  sent 
a  bad  woman  to  him,  who  with  word  and  atli  e  scoprimenti  vergognosi  tried  to 
mislead  him;  he  however  struck  her  in  the  face,  while  he  called  her  a  sow  and  a 
devil.  The  father  then  arranged  with  a  young  girl  of  a  good  family  and  wanted 
to  marry  his  son  to  her,  but  the  son  said  "  no  "  before  the  notary,  and  there 
was  no  marriage.  Then  the  father  sent  five  lusty  fellows  to  Donato,  who 
started  to  eat  and  drink,  sing  and  play  and  invited  him  to  join  them.  Then 
the  young  man  began  to  weep,  because  he  saw  how  determined  his  father  was 
to  destroy  him,  and  he  knelt  down  and  begged  God  to  take  him  away.  And 
God  sent  a  fever  which  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  ended  the  young  man's 
life;  "with  great  joy  and  cheerfulness"  he  met  his  end.  (Belcari:  Prose  ed. 
Gigli,  II,  Rome,  1843,  PP-  IQ6  et  seq.     See  also  cap.  XXI  in  the  same  work.) 


ST.  CLARA  AND  SAN  DAMIANO     125 

turning  from  Rome  with  the  Papal  permission  to  preach,  and 
now  mounted  the  pulpit  in  San  Rufino,  a  few  steps  from  the 
Scifi  palace.  Here  and  in  S.  Giorgio 's  church  Clara  heard 
him  speak,  and  from  the  first  moment  she  saw  him,  was  con- 
vinced that  such  a  life  as  he  led  was  to  be  hers,  and  that  it 
was  the  will  of  God.  The  two  Friars  Minor,  Rufino  and 
Silvester,  who  were  both  of  her  family,  paved  the  way  for  her, 
and  followed  by  a  female  relative,  to  whom  tradition  has 
given  the  name  Bona  Guelfucci,  she  sought  Francis  and  laid 
open  her  heart  to  him.1 

Francis  had  already  heard  the  rumors  about  Clara,  and 
wished,  as  the  legend  says,  "to  rob  the  bad  world  of  so  noble 
a  booty,  and  enrich  his  Lord  therewith."  He  advised  her, 
therefore,  openly  to  despise  the  world,  its  vanity  and  perish- 
ability, not  to  yield  to  the  wishes  of  her  parents  in  the  matter 
of  her  marriage,  but  to  keep  her  body  as  a  temple  for  God 
alone,  and  not  to  have  any  bridegroom  but  Christ.2 

From  now  on  Francis  was  Clara's  spiritual  guide,  and  under 
his  direction  she  was  seized  by  a  stronger  and  stronger  desire 
to  take  the  final  step,  and  let  all  things  go  that  did  not  purely 
and  entirely  belong  to  the  duty  of  man  to  his  God.  She  could 
not  see  how  it  was  any  part  of  this  obligation  to  give  herself 
to  a  man  because  her  parents  wished  it,  and  when  she  —  it 
was  in  the  Lent  of  1212  —  sat  in  St.  George's  church  and 
heard  Francis  from  the  pulpit  "speak  so  wonderfully  of  de- 
spising the  world,  of  voluntary  poverty,  of  pining  after 
heaven,  and  of  the  nakedness  of  our  crucified  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  insults  and  his  most  holy  sufferings,"  3  her 

1  Clara's  family  tree  is  thus  given  by  Locatelli : 
Paolo  Scifi 

l 

Bernardo 

J ; , 

Favorino  g.  m.  Ortulana  Monaldo  Paolo 

l  1  1 


Boso    Penenda    Chiara    Agnes    Beatrice               Boso  Bernarduccio 

1  l 

Silvestro  Rufino 

2A.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  755  (Vita,  cap.  I,  nn.  5-6)  and  p.  749,  n.  51  (Alexander 
IV's  Bull). 

3  Fioretti,  cap.  XXX. 


126  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

heart  burned  in  her  the  moment  she  left  with  the  desire  to 
take  off  her  elegant  clothes,  and  to  live  like  Jesus  and  like 
Francis  in  contentment,  labor,  prayer,  peace  and  joy. 

At  last  her  desire  for  the  new  life  became  so  strong  that 
she  could  not  be  any  longer  restrained,  but  must  change  the 
mode  of  existence  she  had  hitherto  followed.  Francis  set 
the  night  after  Palm-Sunday  as  the  time  for  her  to  "  change 
the  joys  of  this  world  for  grief  for  the  suffering  of  our  Lord." 

Clara  utilized  this  feast-day  (March  18,  121 2)  to  say  fare- 
well to  the  world  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  Wearing  her 
richest  dress  she  went  with  her  mother  and  sisters  to  church; 
no  one  among  the  women  and  girls  of  Assisi  were  in  such 
festive  attire  as  the  beautiful,  fair-haired  Clara  Scifi  on  that 
day.1 

On  Palm-Sunday  the  church  commemorates  the  entry  of 
Christ  into  Jerusalem.  Olive  branches,  which  represent  palm 
branches,  are  consecrated  that  day  by  the  priest  and  are  dis- 
tributed to  the  congregation,  who  go  in  procession  through 
the  church  while  the  choir  sings  the  beautiful  old  anthem: 
Pueri  Hebrceorum,  portantes  ramos  olivarum,  obviaverunt 
Domino,  clamantes  et  dicentes:  Hosanna  in  excelsis!  "With 
olive  boughs  in  their  hands  the  children  of  the  Jews  went 
out  to  meet  the  Lord,  crying  out  and  saying:  'Glory  be  to 
God  on  high!'" 

As  the  distribution  of  the  consecrated  olive  branches  was 
in  progress,  and  all  who  were  in  the  church  came  forward 
to  the  altar  rail  to  receive  a  branch  from  Bishop  Guido,  who 
said  mass,  there  was  only  one  who  kept  back,  and  this  one 
was  Clara  Scifi.  Her  emotions,  on  thinking  of  the  great  step 
she  was  about  to  take,  may  well  have  overcome  the  young 
girl.  Here  in  the  same  church  she  had  knelt  so  many  morn- 
ings in  the  past  years  at  the  side  of  her  mother  and  of  her 
small  sisters,  and  heard  mass  with  them,  and  never  thought 
that  it  could  be  different.  And  now  to-day  it  was  for  the  last 
time.  On  this  very  day  she  was  to  say  farewell  to  them 
for  ever,  without  their  knowledge,  and  the  following  evening 
was  to  be  the   last  she  would  spend  in  the  home  of  her 

l"in  turba  dominarum  splendore  festivo  puella  perradians."  Vita,  cap. 
I,  n.  7. 


ST.     CLARA    AND     SAN    DAMIANO  127 

childhood  and  youthful  days.  The  thought  of  her  mother's 
tenderness,  of  her  young  sisters'  charms,  affection  and  con- 
fidence overcame  Clara;  all  the  many  happy  and  strong 
bonds,  which  years  weave  unnoticed  around  those  who  grow 
up  in  the  same  home,  in  this  solemn  hour  cut  into  and  wounded 
her  heart,  and  she  wept  like  the  woman  she  was,  wept  the 
tears  the  bride  weeps  when  she  leaves  father  and  mother.  .  .  . 

Bishop  Guido  saw  her  bowed  head  and  sobbing  form  and 
understood  her.  It  is  probable  that  Francis  had  told  him 
what  was  to  take  place.  In  any  event,  he  took  with  fine 
sympathy  the  palm  Clara  had  not  taken,  and  brought  it 
himself  down  to  her  in  her  place  in  the  church. 

Clara  carried  her  flight  into  effect  the  next  night.  Out  of  a 
back  door  which  was  blocked  by  a  pile  of  wood,  which  she  had 
to  remove  herself,  she  got  out  upon  the  street  and,  led  by 
Bona  Guelfucci,  took  the  road  to  Portiuncula.  The  Francis- 
cans who  had  expected  her  went  to  meet  her  with  torches, 
and  soon  she  was  kneeling  before  Our  Lady's  image  in  the 
little  chapel,  and  gave  to  the  world  "for  love  ol  the  most  holy 
and  loved  Child  Jesus,  wrapped  in  poor  rags  in  the  manger," 
her  letter  of  divorce  which  she  had  written  long  ago.1 
She  gave  her  shining  dress  into  the  hands  of  the  Brothers, 
and  received  in  its  place  a  rough  woollen  robe,  such  as  the 
Brothers  wore;  she  exchanged  her  jewelled  belt  for  a  common 
rope  with  knots  upon  it  and,  after  her  golden  hair  had  fallen 
before  the  scissors  which  Francis  plied,  she  let  her  high,  stiff 
headdress  lie  upon  the  ground  and  covered  her  head  instead 
with  a  tight  black  veil.  Instead  of  her  rich  embroidered 
shoes  which  she  had  worn  at  the  festival  in  the  church,  she 
put  a  pair  of  wooden  sandals  on  her  naked  feet.  She  then 
took  three  vows  of  consecration,  and  promised,  moreover,  like 
the  Brethren  to  obey  Francises  her  superior.  After  the 
change  was  over  by  which  the  high-born  Lady  Clara  Scifi 
became  Sister  Clara,  Francis  took  her  the  same  night  to  the 
Benedictine  Sisters'  convent  of  St.  Paul  near  the  village  of 

1  "amore  sanctissimi  et  dilectissimi  pueri  pauperculis  panniculis  involuti, 
in  paresepio  reclinati  .  .  .  moneo  .  .  .  sorores  meas,  ut  vestimentis  semper 
vilibus  induantur."  Reg.  S.  Clarae,  cap.  II,  §  18.  "Mox  ibi  rejectis  sordibus 
Babylonis,  mundo  libellum  repudii  tradidit."     Vita  S.  Clarae,  I,  8. 


128  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Isola  Romanesca  (now  Bastia),  where  he  had  temporarily 
arranged  for  her  reception. 

It  could  not  naturally  be  long  unknown  what  had  become 
of  Clara.  Favorino  and  his  relatives  had  quickly  discovered 
her  refuge,  and  presented  themselves  at  the  convent  to  induce 
her  to  return.  But  the  eighteen  year  old  girl  was  immovable 
—  neither  prayers  nor  flattery  nor  promises  availed,  and  when 
the  father  and  uncles  proposed  to  use  force,  she  clung  to  the 
altar  in  the  church,  as  she  threw  her  veil  aside  and  showed  her 
cropped  hair.  For  many  days  the  family  renewed  their 
attempts  to  win  back  Clara,  and  Francis  found  it,  at  last,  to 
be  the  wisest  course  to  transfer  her  to  another  convent, 
Sant'  Angelo  in  Panso,  which  also  belonged  to  the  Benedic- 
tine Sisters.1 

Angry  as  Favorino  had  been,  he  now  was  more  furious  than 
ever,  when  his  young  daughter  Agnes,  sixteen  days  after 
Clara's  flight,  also  left  her  home  and  went  to  Sant'  Angelo  to 
be  there  received  into  the  Sisters'  life.  Of  her  he  had  had 
great  hopes;  she  was  engaged  and  the  marriage  already 
settled.  And  now  she  was  taken  also  with  the  same  madness ! 
Wild  with  rage  and  indignation  he  asked  his  brother  Monaldo 
to  take  twelve  armed  men  and  get  Agnes  back. 

The  nuns  in  the  convent  of  Sant'  Angelo  drew  back  alarmed 
from  the  weapons  that  confronted  them  and  deserted  Agnes. 
The  young  girl,  scarcely  more  than  a  child,  made  a  vigorous 
resistance  and  the  men  had  to  adopt  strenuous  measures. 
Blows  and  kicks  were  hailed  upon  her,  they  pulled  her  by  the 
hair,  and  thus  drew  her  out  of  the  convent.  "  Clara,  Clara, 
come  and  help  me!"  the  unhappy  one  cried  in  vain,  as  locks 
of  her  hair  and  bits  of  her  clothes  were  left  hanging  on  the 
bushes  by  the  roadside. 

Clara  was  in  her  cell  and  asked  God  to  help  her  in  this 
hour  of  need.  And  then  it  suddenly  came  to  pass  that 
twelve  strong  men  were  unable  to  bring  Agnes'  body  one  inch 

1  According  to  Cristofani  (Storia  di  S.  Damiano,  cap.  X)  the  Church  Seminary 
in  Assisi  (Seminarium  Seraphicum)  occupies  the  same  place  as  this  convent. 
Locatelli  thinks  otherwise,  that  Sant'  Angelo  di  Panzo  was  a  mile  outside  of 
the  city;  then  he  identifies  St.  Paul's  Convent  with  a  portion  of  the  Convent 
of  S.  Apollinaris  now  in  Assisi.  (S.  Claire  d' 'Assise,  Rome  1899-190Q,  pp.  40 
and  42.) 


ST.     CLARA    AND     SAN    DAMIANO  1 29 

further.  She  became  suddenly  so  heavy  that  she  might  have 
been  of  stone.  The  men  pushed  and  pulled  her,  but  in  vain. 
"She  has  eaten  lead  the  whole  night,"  said  one  of  them, 
grinning.  "Yes,  the  nuns  know  what  tastes  good,"  answered 
another.  But  her  uncle  Monaldo  became  so  furious  over  this 
unexpected  obstacle,  that  he  lifted  his  armored  fist  to  crush 
with  one  blow  the  contumacious  girl's  head.  But  it  came  to 
pass  that  he  too  was  petrified  and  stood  powerless,  with  lifted 
but  helpless  arm.  Meanwhile  Clara  came  to  the  scene,  and 
the  half-dead  Agnes  was  abandoned  to  her.  The  family 
made  no  further  attempt  to  prevent  the  two  young  girls  from 
following  their  vocation;  later  the  third  sister  Beatrice  joined 
them,  and  after  Favorino's  death,  Ortolana  also.1 

The  convent  of  Sant'  Angelo  could  in  the  nature  of  things 
be  only  a  temporary  abode  for  Clara  and  Agnes.  They  were 
not  Benedictines,  did  not  wear  the  Benedictine  habit,  and 
did  not  follow  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict.  Francis,  in  order  to 
find  a  convent  for  them,  sought  his  old  benefactors,  the 
Camaldolites  of  Monte  Subasio,  and  who  could  paint  his  joy 
when  these  monks,  who  had  already  given  him  Portiuncula 
and  who  on  April  22,  1212  had  given  to  the  city  of  Assisi  the 
ancient  temple  of  Minerva,  changed  into  a  Mary-church,  as 
it  is  still  seen  on  the  city  market-place,  now  showed  them- 
selves willing  to  give  him  San  Damiano  and  the  little  convent 
belonging  to  the  church.  With  "some  few  sisters"2  Clara 
took  possession  of  the  building,  within  whose  walls  she  for 
forty-one  years  —  as  her  biographer  says  —  "with  the  blows 
of  the  scourge  of  penance  should  break  open  the  alabaster 
vase  of  her  body,  so  that  the  whole  Church  was  filled  with  her 
soul's  perfume."  3 

For  here  it  is  that  the  life  of  prayer  and  labor,  of  poverty 
and  joy,  which  I  have  called  the  flower  of  Franciscanism, 
unfolded  itself.  The  example  which  Clara  had  given  worked 
in  a  wide  circle.  There  seems  to  have  been  among  women  in 
that  time  a  desire,  lying  torpid,  for  a  life  above  the  plane  of 
the  senses,  which  is  so  well  symbolized  by  the  white  walls  of 

1  Vita  S.  Clarae,  III,  24-26,  and  V,  45.     Anal.  Franc,  III,  175. 

2  Test.  S.  Clarae  in  Textus  originates,  p.  275. 
8  Vita,  I,  9.     Bull  Clara  claris,  n.  50. 


13° 


SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 


the  cloister.1  Maidens  who  were  not  yet  bound  to  the  world 
hastened  to  San  Damiano  to  live  there  with  her;  those  whose 
attachment  to  their  families  did  not  permit  this,  sought  in 
secrecy  to  live  as  much  of  a  convent  life  as  possible.  Noble 
ladies  devoted  their  dowries  to  the  building  of  cloisters,  into 
which  they  themselves  entered  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  to  do 
penance  for  their  past  lives.  Marriage  was  no  impediment, 
for  man  and  wife  went  each  to  his  own  —  the  man  to  Francis 
and  the  woman  to  Clara.2 

The  conditions  of  entrance  into  San  Damiano  were  the 
same  as  for  the  entrance  into  Portiuncula  —  to  give  all 
possessions  to  the  poor.  The  convent  could  take  nothing  — 
that  must  always  be  "the  fortified  tower  of  the  highest 
poverty,"  as  Clara,  with  a  warlike  turn  in  the  spirit  of  the 
time,  expresses  it.3  The  life  of  the  Sisters  was  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Brothers  —  work  and  begging.  While  some  re- 
mained at  home  and  worked,  others  went  out  and  begged 
from  door  to  door.4 

Almost  all  the  paragrahs  of  the  forma  vivendi,  the  rule 
of  life  which  Francis  now  wrote  for  the  Sisters,  are  devoted 
to  these  few  points,  whose  principal  contents  were  the 
obligation  to  evangelical  poverty.5  Apparently  by  the  inter- 
mediation of  Francis,  Innocent  III  gave  his  approval  to  this 
Rule,  even  more  formally  than  he  had  approved  the  Brothers' 
Rule.  As  Clara  first  in  12 15,  by  Francis'  express  command, 
took  the  position  as  abbess  in  San  Damiano,6  it  is  not  too 
bold  an  hypothesis  to  place  the  Pope's  approval  of  the  Sisters' 
Rule  in  this  year.  Hitherto  Francis  had  been  able  to  be  the 
head  of  both  Orders  and  their  leader,  but  before  Rome  Clara 
had  to  stand  as  the  Superior  of  the  Sisters,  just  as  Francis 
of  the  Brothers.     Innocent  III  is  said  to  have  written  with 

1  See  for  example  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  II,  7. 

2  Vita,  II,  io-ii.     Reg.  S.  Clarae,  II,  3. 

3  Vita,  II,  13. 

4  See  the  account  in  Vita,  II,  12,  of  "famularum  deforis  revertentium "  and 
of  the  reception  Clara  gave  them  (she  took  their  feet  and  kissed  them),  quite 
analogous  to  Francis'  treatment  of  the  begging  Brothers  (see  for  example  Spec, 
per/.,  cap.  XXV).  It  was  not  until  later,  when  the  Clares  became  an  Order 
with  full  cloister,  that  they  had  male  eleemosynarii  {Vita,  V,  37.) 

6  Test.  S.  Clarae,  io-n  (Textus  originates,  p.  276). 
8  Vita,  II,  12. 


ST.  CLARA  AND  SAN  DAMIANO     131 

his  own  hand  the  first  lines  of  the  remarkable  privilegium 
paupertatis  —  so  different  from  the  privileges  for  which  courts 
are  usually  importuned  —  by  which  he  accords  to  Clara  and 
her  Sisters  the  right  to  be  and  to  remain  poor.1 

As  Clara  shared  Francis'  feeling  about  poverty  as  the 
foundation  of  Christian  perfection,  in  conformity  with  the 
words  "you  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon,"2  so  did  she  also 
share  Francis'  ideas  about  work.  In  spite  of  her  dignity  as 
abbess,  it  was  she  who  most  often  served  at  table,  poured 
water  over  the  other  Sisters'  hands,  and  waited  upon  them. 
Rather  than  ask  others  to  do  for  her,  she  would  do  things  for 
herself.  She  personally  took  care  of  the  sick  and  drew  back 
from  no  work,  however  repugnant.  When  the  other  Sisters 
came  home  from  outside  the  convent,  it  was  Clara  who  would 
wash  their  feet.  At  night  she  would  get  up  and  put  the 
covering  on  the  Sisters  who  had  uncovered  themselves  in 
sleep  and  were  liable  to  become  chilled.  Francis  often  sent 
sick  and  weak  people  to  San  Damiano,  where  Clara  took  care 
of  them  and  sometimes  cured  them.  When  it  was  she  who 
was  sick,  she  would  not  stop  working;  as  soon  as  it  was  possi- 
ble, she  would  sit  up  in  bed  with  a  cushion  behind  her  back 
and  embroider  altar  raiment.  Thus  she  made  —  in  Francis' 
own  spirit  —  over  fifty  pairs  of  altar-cloths,  of  the  kind 
called  corporals,  and  sent  them,  laid  into  silk  envelopes,  to 
the  churches  upon  the  mountains  and  on  the  plain.3 

As  she  surpassed  the  other  Sisters  by  her  good  example 
in  her  work,  so  was  it  also  in  her  religious  life.  When  com- 
plines, the  last  prayer  for  the  day  in  the  Breviary,  was  over, 
Clara  stayed  long  before  the  crucifix,  the  same  whose  voice 
Francis  had  heard,  and  before  the  little  flame,  which  in  all 
Catholic  churches  burns  night  and  day  in  the  perpetual  lamp 

1  Vita,  II,  14.     Francis  was  in  Rome"  in  1215. 

2  See  her  first  letter  to  Agnes  of  Bohemia  (A.  SS.,  March  I,  p.  506,  and  Anal. 
Franc,  III,  p.  183,  n.  7.  The  last  text,  after  Nic.  Glassberger's  copy  of  1491 
of  the  Chron.  XXIV  gen.,  is  far  the  best). 

3  Vita,  capp.  IV-V.  Corporate  is  the  name  of  the  linen  cloth  upon  which 
the  host  lies  during  and  after  the  consecration  in  the  Mass. 

After  the  stigmatization  of  Francis  it  was  Clara  who  prepared  a  pair  of 
specially  arranged  shoes,  which  made  it  possible  for  him  to  walk  upon  his  per- 
forated feet;  she  also  saw  to  providing  bandages  for  his  wounds.  Wadding, 
1224,  n.  3.    A.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  746. 


132  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

before  the  sacrament  of  the  altar.  Here  she  gave  herself 
up  to  the  sympathetic  contemplation  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
Saviour,  here  she  prayed  the  "Cruris  Officium,"  the  prayers 
in  honor  of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  which  Francis  had  arranged  and 
taught  her.  But  notwithstanding  all  this,  she  was  up  in  the 
morning  before  all  the  others,  herself  waked  the  Sisters,  lit 
the  lamps,  and  rang  the  bell  for  early  mass. 

At  the  same  time  she  did  not  spare  her  body,  which  by 
nature  was  full-blooded  and  strong.  Her  bed  was  in  the  first 
period  in  San  Damiano  a  bundle  of  vine  twigs,  her  pillow  a 
log  of  wood.  Later  she  lay  upon  leather  with  an  uncomfort- 
able pillow  under  her  head,  and  finally,  by  Francis'  express 
command,  upon  a  sack  of  straw.  He  it  was  also  who  forbade 
her,  in  Lent  and  on  St.  Martin's  fast,  to  eat  only  on  three 
weekdays,  and  then  only  bread  and  water,  a  custom  she  had 
originally  started.  He  had  Bishop  Guido  order  her,  as  a 
matter  of  duty,  to  eat  daily  at  least  one  and  a  half  ounces  of 
bread.  It  was  perhaps  on  account  of  the  prohibition  of  this 
severe  fasting  that,  in  compensation,  she  for  a  while  wore  a 
garment  of  pig's  skin,  with  the  bristles  inside,  which  garment 
she  later  exchanged  for  a  penitential  belt  of  hair-cloth.1 

When  she  returned  from  church,  after  having  prayed  there 
for  a  long  time,  her  face  seemed  to  shine,  and  the  words  she 
spoke  were  full  of  joy.  Once  she  was  so  seized  by  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  holy  water  as  a  symbol  of  the  blood  of  Christ, 
that  she  sprinkled  the  Sisters  with  it  all  day  and  pleadingly 
exhorted  them  never  to  forget  the  rivers  of  salvation  that 
flowed  from  the  wounds  of  Christ.2  One  Maundy  Thursday 
evening  she  was  absorbed  in  spirit  and  could  not  be  waked 
for  twenty-four  hours.  "Why  are  the  lights  still  burning?" 
she  asked,  as  she  awoke,  "is  it  not  yet  day?"  One  Christ- 
mas night  she  lay  sick  and  could  not  follow  the  other  Sisters 
to  church,  but  heard  in  her  bed  the  whole  divine  service  in 
the  convent  church  of  S.  Francesco,  and  saw  the  Child  Jesus 
in  the  Christmas  crib  there.3 

1  Vita,  capp.  III-IV.     Bull  Clara  claris,  n.  54  (A  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  750). 

2  Wadding,  1251,  n.  14.     A.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  746,  n.  36. 

3  Vita,  cap.  IV.  There  is  half  an  hour's  walk  between  S.  Damiano  and 
the  church  of  S.  Francesco. 


ST.     CLARA     AND     SAN    DAMIANO  133 

It  could  be  no  secret  to  Francis  in  how  high  a  degree  he  was 
an  object  of  admiration  to  Clara  and  the  other  Sisters,  and  that 
a  part  of  their  religious  feeling  was  intertwined  with  his  per- 
sonality. To  turn  the  Sisters  from  this  and  direct  their  hearts 
to  God  alone,  he  imperceptibly,  yet  in  adequate  degree,  with- 
drew into  the  background.  His  visits  to  San  Damiano,  which 
at  first  had  been  frequent,  became  little  by  little  of  rare  occur- 
rence. This  action  at  last  attracted  the  attention  of  his  disciples 
and  they  assigned,  as  a  reason  for  it,  a  lack  of  kindness  to  the 
Sisters.  Francis  explained  to  them  his  reason  —  that  he  did 
not  wish  to  stand  between  them  and  Christ.  For  no  consid- 
eration would  he  encourage  the  purely  personal  devotion  to 
the  priest  or  individual.1 

Once  he  had  agreed  to  come  to  San  Damiano  and  preach. 
Clara  was  greatly  devoted  to  sermons;  when  Pope  Gregory 
IX  at  a  subsequent  time  wished  to  prohibit  the  Franciscans 
from  preaching  in  this  convent,  she  impeded  this  prohibition 
by  sending  the  Brothers  away  also,  who,  after  the  closure 
was  in  force  at  San  Damiano  about  12 19,  went  from  door  to 
door  and  begged  for  the  Sisters.  "If  we  have  to  go  with- 
out spiritual  bread,  we  can  even  go  without  bodily  bread 
also,"  she  declared,  and  the  Pope  was  obliged  to  take  off  his 
prohibition.2 

Now  Francis  had  permission  to  go  to  the  Sisters  and  preach, 
and  all  were  glad,  not  only  at  hearing  God's  word,  but  also  at 
seeing  their  spiritual  father  and  guide.3  Francis  entered  the 
church  and  stood  a  while  with  uplifted  eyes,  absorbed  in  prayer. 
Then  he  turned  to  some  of  the  Sisters,  who  were  serving  in 
the  sacristy,  and  asked  for  some  ashes.  When  the  ashes  were 
brought,  Francis  made  a  circle  with  them  around  himself,  and 
what  was  left  over  he  strewed  upon  his  own  head.  Then  only 
did  he  break  the  silence,  not  to  preach,  but  only  to  recite 
the  fiftieth  Psalm  of  David,  the  great  penitential  Psalm  Mise- 
rere.    When  he  had  said  it  to  the  end,  he  went  quickly  away 

1  "Non  credatis,  charissimi,  quod  eas  perfecte  non  diligam.  Si  enim  magnum 
esset  eas  in  Christo  fovere,  nonne  maius  fuisset  eas  Christo  junxisse?  "  Celano, 
Vita  sec,  III,  132.     Compare  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  8,  and  V.  sec,  III,  133-134. 

2  Vita,  V,  37. 

3  "Congregatis  autem  dominabus  ex  more,  ut  verbum  Dei  audirent,  sed  non 
minus  ut  patrem  viderent."     Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  134. 


134  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

—  he  had  taught  the  Sisters  to  see  in  him  nothing  but  a  poor 
sinner  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 

To  the  same  order  of  thought  may  the  tale  be  referred, 
which  is  preserved  for  us  in  the  Fioretti,1  of  "how  St.  Clara  eat 
with  St.  Francis  and  his  Brothers  in  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli." 
It  reads  thus: 

"When  St.  Francis  was  in  Assisi,  he  several  times  visited  St. 
Clara  and  gave  her  many  salutary  admonitions.  And  she 
had  so  strong  a  desire  to  eat  with  him,  and  asked  him  so  many 
times  about  it,  but  he  would  not  grant  her  the  favor.  But 
the  Brothers,  who  had  knowledge  of  this  desire  of  St.  Clara, 
said  to  St.  Francis:  ' Father,  it  seems  to  us,  that  this  thy 
strictness  is  not  after  the  divine  precept  of  charity,  that  thou 
wilt  not  yield  to  St.  Clara,  who  is  so  holy  and  pleasing  to  God, 
in  so  little  a  thing  as  it  is  to  eat  together  with  thee;  especially 
when  thou  thinkest  that  she  on  account  of  thy  preaching  has 
left  the  kingdom  and  glory  of  the  world.  And  even  if  she 
asked  for  a  greater  favor  than  this  is,  thou  shouldst  give  it, 
for  she  is  thy  spiritual  plant.'  Then  St.  Francis  replied, 
'You  think  then  that  I  should  accede  to  her?'  His  Brothers 
answered,  'Yes,  father,  we  think  that  thou  owest  her  this 
favor  and  comfort!'  Then  St.  Francis  said:  'Since  it  seems 
so  to  you,  it  seems  so  to  me.  But  for  her  greater  comfort  I 
will  have  this  meal  occur  in  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  here; 
as  she  has  been  long  shut  up  in  San  Damiano,  it  will  please 
and  strengthen  her  to  see  Santa  Maria,  where  her  hair  was 
cut  off,  and  where  she  was  betrothed  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  there 
we  will  eat  together  in  God's  name.' 

"And  when  the  day  for  the  meal  came  St.  Clara  left  her 
convent  with  a  companion  and  was  taken  by  the  Brothers  to 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli.  And  she  made  a  devout  reverence 
before  the  altar  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  where  her  hair  had  been 
cut  off,  and  where  she  had  taken  the  veil,  and  then  they  took 
her  around  to  see  the  convent,  until  the  meal  should  be  served. 
And  meanwhile  St.  Francis  had  the  table  laid  upon  the  naked 
earth,  as  was  his  custom.  And  when  meal-time  came,  St. 
Francis  and  St.  Clara  sat  down  together,  and  one  of  the 
Brothers  with  the  companion  of  St.  Clara,  and  next  all  the 

1  Cap.  XV.     It  is  also  found,  later  inserted,  in  Clara's  Vila  (V,  39-42). 


ST.  CLARA  AND  SAN  DAMIANO     135 

other  Brothers,  and  they  humbly  took  their  places  at  the  table. 
And  with  the  first  dish  St.  Francis  began  to  talk  of  God  so 
lovingly,  with  such  depth,  so  wonderfully,  that  the  divine 
fullness  of  love  descended  upon  him,  and  all  were  enraptured 
in  God.  And  while  they  were  thus  transported  with  eyes 
and  hands  lifted  towards  heaven,  the  people  in  Assisi  and 
Bettona  and  in  the  other  neighboring  towns  saw  that  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli  and  the  whole  convent  and  woods,  which 
then  were  at  the  side  of  the  convent,  seemed  to  be  in  a  great 
blaze.  And  it  looked  as  if  there  was  a  great  conflagration, 
both  in  the  church  and  convent  and  woods.  And  people  from 
Assisi  came  running  down  there  in  haste  to  put  out  the  fire,  for 
they  really  believed  that  everything  was  on  fire.  But  when 
they  came  to  the  convent  and  saw  that  there  was  no  fire, 
they  went  in  and  found  St.  Francis  and  St.  Clara  and  all  the 
others  transported  unto  God  around  the  poorly  furnished  table. 
Then  they  understood  that  there  had  been  a  divine  fire  and 
no  material  one,  when  God  had  let  Himself  be  seen  there  as  a 
token  to  indicate  and  reveal  the  divine  fire  of  love,  with  which 
the  souls  of  the  Brothers  and  Sisters  were  inflamed,  and  they 
went  away  with  great  comfort  in  their  hearts  and  with  great 
edification." 

If  Clara  thus  showed  herself  before  Francis  as  the  weak 
woman,  who  was  one  that  longed  for  comfort  and  encourage- 
ment, she  was  in  her  relations  to  the  Sisters  the  strong  woman, 
the  one  who  protected  and  defended  the  others.  It  was  not 
for  nothing  that  she  was  of  old  warrior  blood. 

This  was  seen  on  the  two  occasions  when  San  Damiano  was 
besieged  by  Frederick  IPs  soldiers.  During  his  war  with  the 
Pope  this  ruler  had  made  an  incursion  into  the  Papal  States, 
and  had,  with  some  degree  of  cunning,  used  his  Mussulman 
archers,  to  whom  the  Papal  excommunication  was  an  object 
of  indifference.  From  the  elevated  mountain  fortification, 
Nocera,  only  a  few  miles  from  Assisi,  these  Saracens  had  darted 
out  "like  wasps"  down  over  the  valley  of  Spoleto  and  one 
fine  day  they  attacked  also  the  convent  of  San  Damiano.1  If 
the  Mussulmen  entered,  the  Sisters  had  not  only  death  to  fear, 
but  also  dishonor;   they  gathered  trembling  around  Clara, 

1  "  Saracenorum  sagittariorum  examina  velut  apum"  (Vita,  III,  21). 


136  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

who  —  as  so  often  —  lay  sick.  Without  losing  courage  she 
had  herself  carried  to  the  locked  door,  so  as  to  be  the  first  who 
would  be  exposed  to  the  danger.  Next  she  had  the  silver 
and  ivory  ciborium  brought  from  the  church,  in  which  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar  in  the  form  of  bread  was  preserved, 
and  sank  down  in  prayer  to  the  Saviour.  It  then  seemed 
to  her  that  from  the  ciborium  a  voice  issued,  "like  a  child's," 
and  this  voice  said,  "I  will  always  be  your  guardian." 
Strengthened  and  confident  she  rose  from  her  prayers,  and 
soon  after  the  Saracens  gave  up  the  attack  and  went 
elsewhere.1 

In  another  way  Clara  showed  her  indomitable  spirit.  When 
in  1220  the  news  reached  Italy  of  the  death  of  the  first  five 
Franciscan  martyrs  in  Morocco,  Clara  was  so  inspired  that 
she  wanted  also  to  go  to  the  heathen  to  suffer  martyrdom  with 
her  Sisters,  and  only  an  express  prohibition  of  Francis  pre- 
vented her  from  carrying  out  this  plan.2  Perhaps  it  was  in  the 
war  she  waged  with  the  Pope  himself  that  she  might  remain 
true  to  her  vow  of  poverty  that  she  showed  herself  most 
inflexible  and  most  heroic.  Over  and  over  again  her  good 
friend  Hugolin,  who  in  1227  became  Pope  with  the  name 
Gregory  IX,  sought  with  the  best  intentions  to  force  upon 
her  and  her  convent  some  property,  on  which  they  could 
live  in  peace  and  quiet  like  other  nuns.  She  steadfastly 
refused,  and  he  said  that,  if  it  was  only  for  the  sake  of  the 
promise  she  had  made,  he  had  power  to  release  her  from 
it.  "Holy  Father,"  was  her  answer,  "free  me  from  my 
sins,  but  not  from  following  our  Lord  Christ!"3  Two  days 
before  her  death  she  obtained  from  Innocent  IV  the  per- 

1  "  Vox  quasi  pueruli  ad  ejus  aures  insonuit  .  .  .  Ego  vos  semper  custodiam." 
Vita,  III,  22.  It  is  in  reference  to  this  event,  which  occurred  in  1230,  that 
Clara  is  often  represented  with  a  monstrance  in  her  hand.  The  legend  has 
since  adorned  the  event.  To-day,  on  the  walls  of  S.  Damiano,  there  is  to  be  seen  a 
half-obliterated  fresco,  that  shows  the  frightened  Saracens,  who  are  thrown  down 
from  their  storming  ladders,  as  Clara  meets  them  with  the  sacrament.  Four 
years  later  (June  22,  1234)  the  troops  of  Frederick,  this  time  under  Vitale 
d'Aversa,  were  in  a  similar  manner  prevented  not  only  from  entering  S.  Damiano 
but  also  the  city  itself;  the  day  is  still  celebrated  in  Assisi  as  a  national  festival. 

2  Wadding,  1251,  n.  14.    A.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  746. 

3  Vita,  II,  15.  Innocent  IV's  Bull,  Clara  claris  (A.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  750, 
n.  55). 


ST.     CLARA    AND     SAN    DAMIANO  137 

petual  ratification  of  the  right  of  her  and  her  Sisters  to  be 
and  to  remain  poor.1 

Unlike  Francis,  and  in  spite  of  the  austere  life  she  led,  Clara 
lived  to  an  old  age;  she  died  in  her  sixtieth  year,  after  forty- 
one  years  of  convent  life.  In  that  time  one  great  sorrow  had 
reached  her;  this  was  Francis'  death  in  1226.  As  he  lay  at 
the  last  in  the  little  poor  sick-cell  down  back  of  Portiuncula, 
a  message  came  from  Clara  that  she  wished  to  see  him  once 
more.  But  St.  Francis  sent  word  back  and  said  to  one  of  the 
Brothers:  "Go  and  say  to  Sister  Clara  to  give  up  all  trouble. 
Now  she  cannot  see  me,  but  she  must  know  this  for  certain, 
that  before  her  death  both  she  and  the  Sisters  shall  see  me  and 
take  great  comfort  therefrom." 

And  then  Francis  died.  But  the  day  after  his  death  the 
citizens  of  Assisi  came  and  took  his  lifeless  body  and,  along 
with  the  Brothers,  carried  it  up  to  Assisi  with  hymns  and  songs 
of  praise,  with  the  blare  of  trumpets,  and  with  olive-branches 
and  lighted  candles  in  their  hands.  And  in  the  early  October 
morning,  as  the  violet  mist  still  lay  on  the  plain  like  a  mighty 
sea,  they  ascended  the  sunlit  height  by  San  Damiano,  the 
funeral  escort  stopped,  and  the  bier  with  the  lifeless  body  was 
taken  into  the  church,  so  near  to  the  grated  window  of  the 
Sisters  that  they  could  see  their  dead  spiritual  father  for  the 
last  time.  "And  after  the  grating  through  which  the  maid- 
servants of  the  Lord  were  wont  to  receive  the  sacred  host  and 
to  hear  the  word  of  God  was  passed  by,  the  Brothers  lifted 
this  holy  body  up  from  the  bier  and  held  it  in  their  raised  arms 
in  front  of  the  window,  so  long  a  time  as  My  Lady  Clara  and 
the  other  Sisters  wished  it,  for  their  comfort,"  the  Speculum 
perfectionis  tells  us.2  The  little  church  now  echoed  the  notes 
of  sorrow  and  farewell,  of  grief  and  woe,  for  "who  would  not 
be  moved  to  tears,"  says  Thomas  of  Celano,  "when  even  the 
angels  of  peace  wept  so  bitterly?  "... 

Years  passed,  and  Clara  still  lived.  Francis  was  gone,  but 
his  near  friends,  Leo,  Angelo,   Brother  Juniper,   came  fre- 

^he  Bull  Solet  annuere  of  August  9,  1253.  Clara  died  August  11, 
1253.  In  a  later  section  the  interesting  but  involved  question  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Rule  of  the  Clares  will  be  treated  in  connection  with  the  history  of 
the  Rule  of  the  Franciscans. 

2  Cap.  108.     Compare  Celano,  Vita  pr.,  II,  cap.  X. 


138  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

quently  to  San  Damiano,  and,  together  with  them,  Clara 
buried  herself  in  memories  of  the  time  when  the  master  still 
lived.  Also  Brother  Giles,  who  otherwise  always  —  as  Ber- 
nard of  Quintavalle  tells  us  —  "sat  in  his  cell  like  a  maiden 
in  her  room,"  gave  Clara  now  and  then  a  visit,  and  it  was 
during  one  of  these  that  the  following  real  Franciscan  trait 
occurred. 

An  English  Franciscan,  who  was  a  Doctor  of  Theology, 
stood  in  the  pulpit  in  San  Damiano  and  gave  a  sermon  which, 
with  all  his  learning,  seems  to  have  been  very  different  from 
the  words  that  used  to  be  heard  from  this  place  out  of  the 
mouth  of  Francis  of  Assisi.  All  felt  it,  and  suddenly  Brother 
Giles  raised  his  voice  and  called  out,  "Be  still,  Master,  and  I 
will  preach!  "  The  English  Doctor  stopped  speaking  and 
Giles  began,  "in  the  heat  of  the  Spirit  of  God"  says  the  old 
legend.  Then  he  resigned  the  pulpit  to  the  foreign  preacher 
again,  and  the  latter  continued.  But  Clara  rejoiced  over  this, 
she  said,  more  than  if  she  had  seen  the  dead  brought  to  life 
again,  "for  this  was  what  our  most  holy  father,  Francis, 
wanted,  that  a  Doctor  of  Theology  should  have  enough 
humility  to  be  silent,  when  a  Lay-Brother  wished  to  speak  in 
his  stead."1 

The  time  came  at  last  when  the  call  of  death  was  heard  also 
by  St.  Clara.  For  all  of  twenty-eight  years  she  had  been 
more  or  less  a  victim  of  sickness,  and  in  the  fall  of  1252  she  felt 
that  her  death  was  near.  But  as  yet  her  life's  work  was  incom- 
plete —  she  had  not  obtained  the  final,  unrestricted  ratifica- 
tion of  her  privilege  of  poverty. 

Exactly  at  this  time  Innocent  IV  returned  from  Lyons, 
whither  he  had  fled  before  the  army  of  Frederick  II.  The 
excommunicated  Emperor  died  in  1250  in  Fiorenzuola,  and 
in  September,  1252,  the  Pope  took  up  his  residence  in  Perugia. 
As  soon  as  the  Papal  court  came  to  rest  in  the  Umbrian  capi- 
tal, the  Sisters'  well-wisher  and  protector,  Cardinal  Raynald, 
later  Pope  Alexander  IV,  visited  San  Damiano.  Here  he 
gave  Clara  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  and  she  begged  him 
imploringly  to  obtain  the  ratification  of  the  privilege  from 
the  Pope. 

1  A.  SS.,  April  III,  p.  239.     Vita  difr.  Egidio  (Belcari),  capp.  XII  and  LVIII. 


ST.     CLARA    AND     SAN    DAMIANO  139 

The  Pope  came  with  his  court  the  next  year  to  Assisi.  He 
visited  Clara  on  her  sick-bed,  and  when  she,  as  is  the  custom, 
wanted  to  kiss  his  foot,  he  set  it  on  a  stool  so  that  she  could  do 
what  she  wished.  She  then  prayed  for  the  blessing  of  the 
Pope  and  for  complete  absolution  of  her  sins.  "Would  to 
God,  my  daughter,  that  I  had  as  little  need  of  God's  forgiveness 
as  you!"  said  Innocent  with  a  sigh.  After  his  departure 
Clara  said  to  the  Sisters,  who  were  collected  around  her: 
"Praise  the  Lord,  my  daughters!  This  morning  I  received 
Himself,  and  now  I  too  have  been  considered  worthy  to  see 
His  Vicar  on  earth!" 

After  this  the  Sisters  never  left  Clara's  bedside.  Agnes, 
who  for  thirty  years  had  been  separated  from  her  sister  as 
Abbess  of  Monticelli  convent,  near  Florence,  knelt  weeping  by 
her  bed.  Day  after  day  the  dying  saint  lay  there;  for  over 
two  weeks  she  had  eaten  nothing,  but  still  felt  strong.  Her 
confessor  exhorted  her  to  be  patient.  "Since  I  learned  to 
know  the  grace  of  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  God's  servant 
Francis,"  she  answered,  "no  pain  and  no  penance  has  been 
too  great  for  me,  and  no  sickness  too  hard."  She  then  sent 
messengers  to  her  friends  in  Portiuncula,  to  Leo,  Angelo  and 
Juniper,  telling  them  that  they  could  read  the  story  of  our 
Lord's  passion  to  her.  They  came,  and  Brother  Leo  knelt  by 
the  bed  and  kissed,  weeping,  the  hard  sack  of  straw,  Brother 
Juniper  opened  his  bundle  of  "News  from  God,"  Angelo  com- 
forted the  weeping  Sisters. 

Then  it  was  that  Clara  was  heard  to  lift  her  voice  in  the 
tearful  silence.  "Go  forth  without  fear,"  said  she;  "thou 
hast  a  good  guide  for  the  road!  Go  forth  without  fear,  for 
He  Who  created  thee  has  also  sanctified  thee,  He  has  always 
protected  thee,  He  has  loved  thee  tenderly,  as  a  mother  loves 
her  child.  O  Lord,  I  praise  Thee,  because  Thou  hast  created 
me!" 

Clara  ceased  her  prayers  and  lay  quiet  a  while,  with  open 
eyes.  "Whom  art  thou  talking  to?  "  at  last  one  of  the  Sisters 
asked  her.  "I  am  speaking,"  answered  Clara  solemnly,  "with 
my  blessed  soul."  "And  do  you  not  see,"  she  added  a 
moment  after,  "do  you  not  see  the  King  of  Glory,  Whom  I 
now  behold?" 


140  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

With  eyes  blinded  with  tears  all  watched  the  dying  one. 
But  Clara  saw  them  no  longer.  She  constantly  watched  the 
chamber  door  —  and  behold,  the  door  opened,  and  in  white 
clothes,  with  golden  bands  around  their  shining  hair,  a  flock 
of  heavenly  virgins  entered,  who  had  come  to  take  Clara  to 
the  eternal  Fatherland.  One  of  them  was  taller  and  more 
beautiful  than  all  the  others,  and  her  golden  head  shone,  so 
that  the  dark  qell  was  made  more  brilliant  than  the  brightest 
day.  And  the  beautiful,  shining  lady  stepped  out  from  the 
crowd  of  maidens  to  the  bed  of  Clara,  bent  down  over  the 
dying  one,  embraced  her  and  hid  her  as  it  were  under  a  veil  of 
light.  In  the  arms  of  Mary,  under  the  folds  of  the  shining, 
luminous  robe  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  Clara's  soul  went  up 
to  everlasting  glory.  But  between  the  stiffening  hands  the 
dead  saint  held  the  Pope's  bull,  sent  two  days  before  —  the 
final,  solemn  ratification  of  the  right  of  Clara  and  of  her 
Sisters  to  live  after  the  Franciscan  ideal.1 

San  Damiano's  convent  is  still  standing,  almost  as  Clara 
and  her  Sisters  left  it.  Here  is  the  little,  narrow  choir  where 
they  prayed  their  Office;  along  the  walls  are  seats,  polished  by 
wear,  made  of  old  rough  woodwork,  and  in  the  middle  of  the 
creaking  wooden  floor  the  old  desk  with  the  great  book  of 
antiphones  lying  open  upon  it.  Here  is  shown  one  of  the 
bells  Clara  used  when  the  Sisters  were  to  be  called  to  prayer, 
the  tin  cup  out  of  which  she  drank  after  she  had  received  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar,  the  Breviary  Brother  Leo  wrote  for 
her,  and  out  of  which  she  prayed  daily,  and  a  copper  reliquary 
given  her  by  Innocent  IV.  Here  too  we  see  the  refectory 
where  Gregory  IX  was  her  guest,  and  where  she  by  the  com- 
mand of  the  Pope  blessed  the  rolls  of  bread,  while  on  each 
roll  as  she  blessed  it  a  cross  appeared.  Here  we  see  Clara's 
little,  narrow,  low  bedroom ;  here  we  visit  finally  her  so-called 
garden  —  a  small  strip  of  flagged  ground  between  two  high 
walls. 

But  from  this  bit  of  terrace  there  opens  between  the  two 
walls,  as  if  through  the  proscenium  of  a  theatre,  a  beautiful 
view  over  the  lovely  Umbrian  land  —  one  sees  Rivo  Tor  to, 
Portiuncula,  the  white  roads,  the  olive-grown  fields,  the  little 

1  Vita,  cap.  VI.     Bull  Clara  daris,  n.  57. 


ST.     CLARA     AND     SAN    DAMIANO  141 

town  of  Bettona  over  in  the  blue  mountains.  The  garden 
proper  consists  of  only  a  sort  of  wide  terrace,  rilled  with 
earth,  in  which  flowers  are  growing.  And  as  the  old  tradi- 
tion goes,  Clara  would  permit  only  three  kinds  of  flowers 
here:  lilies,  which  are  the  symbol  of  purity;  violets,  the 
symbol  of  humility,  and  roses,  which  signify  the  love  of  God 
to  man. 


BOOK    THREE 
GOD'S   SINGER 


Quid  enim  sunt  servi  Dei  nisi  quidem  jocu- 
latores  ejus,  qui  corda  hominum  erigere  debent 
et  movere  ad  laetitiam  spiritualem? 

For  what  else  are  the  servants  of  God  than  his 
singers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  lift  up  the  hearts  of 
men  and  move  them  to  spiritual  joy  ? 

francis  in  Speculum  perfections 


CHAPTER  I 
TEE  SERMON  TO  THE  BIRDS 

IT  seems  almost  as  if  Francis,  after  he  had  seen  the  quiet, 
introspective  and  happy  life  St.  Clara  and  the  first  of 
her  Sisterhood  led  in  San  Damiano,  was  again  inspired 
with  doubts  as  to  his  vocation.  Again  did  the  doubt 
arise  within  him  if  it  were  not  better  to  withdraw  altogether 
from  the  world  and  to  live  alone  for  his  soul's  welfare  like 
the  old  anchorites.  Many  of  his  disciples  had  chosen  this 
course  —  Silvester,  Rufino,  and  to  some  extent  Giles.  And 
although  Francis  was  well  aware  of  the  dangers  of  the  hermit 
life  —  spiritual  arbitrariness  and  ascetic  pride  (the  character- 
istic description  can  be  read  in  the  Fioretti,  Chap.  29)  —  yet 
it  seemed  to  him  incontrovertible  that  the  wandering  life  as 
preacher  was  preferable  to  what  he  called  the  "  accumulation 
of  dust  on  the  spiritual  feet."  l 

To  understand  what  Francis  meant  by  this  we  must  follow 
him  on  his  great  missionary  journey,  which  he  undertook  in 
the  years  1211-1212. 

With  Silvester  he  went  to  Tuscany,  pacified  the  troubles 
in  Perugia  (see  page  99),  was  joined  in  Cortona.  by  Guido 
Vagnotelli  and  —  if  Wadding  can  be  relied  on  —  also  by  the 
celebrated  and  dreaded  Elias  Bombarone,  established  near  the 
city  a  hermitage  named  Celle,  and  then  wandered  on  to  Arezzo 
and  Florence.  In  the  latter  city  a  celebrated  jurist  joined 
himself  to  him,  Johannes  Parenti,  a  doctor  of  the  University 
of  Bologna  and  judge  in  Civita  Castellana.  Wadding,  follow- 
ing Rudolphus,  gives  an  anecdote  about  Parenti's  entrance 
into  the  Order.  When  on  a  walking  tour  he  heard  a  swineherd 
driving  his  grunting  hogs  into  the  pen  with  the  words,  "  Hurry 

1 " spiritualium  pulverisatio  pedum."     Bonav.,  XII,  2. 
«  145 


146  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

up  into  the  sty,  pigs,  as  lawyers  hurry  into  hell!"  l  The  old 
proverb,  "Die  Juristen  sind  bose  Christen"  (Lawyers  are  poor 
Christians),  seems  to  have  been  current  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. In  any  case  Parenti  gave  up  his  office  and  became  a 
Franciscan,2  at  about  the  same  time  as  another  Bolognese 
lawyer,  Nicolo  de  Pepoli,  took  up  with  interest  the  Franciscan 
mission  in  Bologna  itself.3  From  Florence  Francis  went  on  to 
Pisa,  where  Angelus,  the  subsequent  General  of  the  Order, 
and  Albert,  later  the  leader  of  the  Brothers'  English  mission, 
joined  him.  He  then  returned  back  to  Assisi  by  S.  Gimignano 
in  the  Val  d'  Elsa,  by  Chiusi  and  Cortona,  and  after  a  full 
year's  absence  he  gave  the  Lenten  sermons  in  the  cathedral, 
as  already  alluded  to  (p.  125). 

But  this  last  part  of  Francis'  journey  was  almost  a  triumphal 
march.  As  he  would  approach  a  city,  the  bells  were  rung,  the 
people  went  out  to  meet  him  with  palm-boughs  in  their  hands, 
and  conducted  him  in  festival  progress  to  the  parish  priest, 
with  whom  he  always  stayed.  They  brought  bread  for  him  to 
bless,  to  be  afterwards  preserved  as  a  relic.  And  they  repeated 
the  cry  which  the  Italians  are  so  inclined  to  utter,  "Behold 
the  Saint!"* 

Even  the  disciples  found  that  this  was  too  much.  Some- 
times they  asked  him  —  just  as  the  chief  priests  and  scribes 
had  asked  the  Master  —  "Hearest  thou  what  these  say?" 
Francis  used  to  answer  that  he  regarded  the  homage  paid  him 
as  analogous  to  the  honor  paid  to  pictures  in  churches,  for  the 
God-fearing  man  is  only  an  image  of  God,  and  flesh  and  blood, 
like  wood  and  stone,  should  not  dare  to  ascribe  to  themselves 
the  honor  which  belongs  to  God  alone.5 

1  "Porci,  ingredimini  in  antrum,  sicut  judices  causarum  intrant  in  infernum;" 
1 21 1,  n.  21.     Parenti  was  General  of  the  Order  from  June  16,  1227  to  1232. 

2  Francis  called  him  afterwards  the  "Florentine  boxer"  {pugil  florentinus) 
a  name  with  which  he  seemed  to  want  to  tease  Parenti  for  his  hardness  of  hand. 
(Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  138,  ed.  d'Alencon.) 

3  It  is  undoubtedly  he  who  is  spoken  of  in  the  Actus,  cap.  IV.  Niccolo  at 
last  entered  the  Order  in  1220.  (See  Brother  Bonaventure's  testimony  of  the 
year  1306,  in  Wadding,  1220,  n.  II.) 

4  Celano,  Vila  prima,  I,  VIII,  62.  Tres  Socii,  XIV:  "Et  quando  erat  hora 
hospitandi,  libentius  erant  cum  sacerdotibus,  quam  cum  laicis  hujus  saeculi." 
Spec.  45:  "Iste  est  sanctus  homo!" 

5  Spec,  per/.,  p.  81.     Compare  Barth,  Conform.,  i.  33b.     Wadding,  1212,  n.  7. 


THE     SERMON    TO    THE     BIRDS  I47 

But  eventually  this  was  insufficient  for  him,  and  he  sought 
therefore  to  abase  himself,  as  well  as  he  could.  "Do  not 
praise  me  too  soon,"  he  liked  to  say,  "for  soon  I  shall  have 
sons  and  daughters!"  Or  he  would  break  out:  "Had  God 
shown  a  street  robber  the  love  He  has  shown  me,  he  would  be 
much  more  thankful!"  He  heartily  thanked  the  Bishop  of 
Terni,  when  he  once  introduced  one  of  Francis'  sermons  with 
a  little  introduction,  in  which  he  had  developed  the  theme 
of  how  wonderful  it  was  to  see  so  insignificant  and  ungifted 
a  man  as  Francis  attain  such  great  results.1  To  those  who 
praised  his  severe  way  of  life  he  said:  "All  that  I  do,  a  sinner 
can  also  do.  A  sinner  can  fast,  can  pray,  can  shed  tears, 
can  mortify  the  flesh.  Only  one  thing  a  sinner  cannot  do  — 
be  true  to  his  Lord  and  his  God."  2 

For  such  faithlessness  to  God  Francis  often  upbraided  him- 
self, and  never  concealed  it.  Once  he  had  been  sick,  and 
while  sick  had  eaten  some  chicken.  Scarcely  was  he  well 
again  when  he  put  a  string  around  his  neck  and  had  himself 
led  stripped  to  the  village  pillory,  and  while  thus  led  made  the 
Brother  who  led  him  cry  out,  "Here  you  see  the  great  glutton 
who  ate  chicken  without  your  knowing  about  it!"3  And  as 
the  people  only  broke  out  into  greater  praise  of  his  humility, 
he  ordered  one  of  the  Brothers  to  scold  him  vigorously  so  that 
for  once  he  could  hear  the  truth.  Much  against  his  will  the 
Brother  upbraided  him  as  a  rustic,  a  hireling  and  a  useless 
servant,  and  with  a  contented  smile  Francis  answered  him: 
"  God  bless  thee  for  the  word!  That  is  what  the  son  of  Pietro 
di  Bernardone  ought  to  hear!"  4 

On  other  occasions  Francis  sought  to  escape  the  homage  of 
the  people  by  withdrawing  into  solitude.  Thus  he  passed  the 
whole  of  Lent,  121 1,  on  an  uninhabited  island  in  Lake  Thrasi- 
mene,5  and  he  seems  to  have  passed  a  great  part  of  the  follow- 
ing winter  in  the  high-lying  hermitage  Sarteano  near  Chiusi. 
The  huts,  made  of  branches,  which  he  with  a  few  Brothers  built 

1  Cel.,  V.  see.,  Ill,  73.    Spec,  perf.,  cap.  43.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  80. 

2  Bonav.,  VI,  3. 

a  Cel.,  V.  prima,  1, 52.    Spec,  perf.,  61.     Bonav.,  VI,  2.    Wadding,  1212,11.  53. 
4  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  53.     Bonav.,  VI,  1.    Spec.  per},  places  the  residence  in  Assisi 
under  Pietro  dei  Cattani's  vicariate  (1 220-1 221). 
6  Actus,  cap.  VI.    Fior.,  cap.  7. 


148  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

there,  resembled  mostly  the  dens  of  wild  beasts,  but  Francis 
liked  the  place  "  partly  for  its  wildness,  partly  for  its  loneliness, 
and  finally  because  he  could  see  from  it  Assisi  in  the  distance."  * 
In  this  loneliness  he  was  visited  by  great  temptations,  some- 
times to  despair  —  an  interior  voice  said  to  him,  "  There  is 
salvation  for  all,  except  for  a  self -tormentor  like  you!"  — 
sometimes  to  give  up  the  state  of  celibacy  and  marry.  Against 
this  temptation  he  used  an  old  practice  of  the  anchorites  — 
with  the  rope  which  he  wore  as  a  belt,  he  gave  himself  a  dreadful 
beating  on  the  bare  back.  But  as  "  Brother  Ass  " — as  Francis 
used  to  call  his  body  —  would  give  him  no  peace,  he  found 
another  way.  Outside  of  his  cell  the  ground  was  covered 
with  snow,  and  half  naked  as  he  was,  Francis  sprang  out  into 
the  snow  and  began  to  build  seven  snow  images.  When  the 
work  was  done  he  said  to  himself:  "See,  Francis  —  here  is 
your  wife,  the  big  one  over  there  —  the  four  at  her  side  are 
your  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  the  other  two  are  your 
man-servant  and  maid.  They  are  dying  of  cold  —  hurry  up 
and  put  something  on  them!  And  if  you  cannot,  then  be 
glad  that  you  have  no  one  to  serve  except  God  alone."  2 

In  one  way  or  another  the  idea  of  withdrawing  entirely 
from  the  world  engaged  Francis'  thoughts.  He  often  discussed 
it  with  the  Brothers  of  the  Order  and  weighed  the  pro  and 
con.  There  was  one  thing  that  always  prevented  him  from 
choosing  the  hermit  life,  and  that  was  the  example  of  our 
Lord.  Jesus  could  have  chosen  to  remain  in  his  glory  at  his 
Father's  right  hand,  but  instead  descended  to  earth  to  endure 
the  vicissitudes  of  human  life  and  to  die  the  bitter  death  of 
shame  on  the  Cross.  And  it  was  the  Cross  that  had  from  the 
first  been  Francis'  model,  the  Cross  to  which  he  applied  with 
the  rest  of  the  Middle  Ages  God's  word  to  Moses:  Fac  secundum 
exemplar  —  "Make  it  according  to  the  pattern,  that  was 
shown  thee  in  the  mount."  3 

In  his  doubt  Francis  resolved  to  ask  a  decision  from  God 

1  Wadding,  121 2,  n.  1,  after  Mariano. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  82  (ed.  dAlencon).  Bonav.,  V,  4.  "A  Brother,  who  had 
stayed  up  to  pray,  saw  it  all  by  the  light  of  the  moon,"  says  the  last-named. 
What  a  picture  of  Francis  in  the  moonlight  of  the  snow-white  mountain  loneli- 
ness, building  snow  images  and  talking  to  himself! 

8  Exodus,  xxv.  40.     Bonav.,  XII,  1-2. 


THE     SERMON    TO     THE     BIRDS  149 

and  to  follow  it  blindly,  whatever  it  might  be.  On  other 
occasions  he  had  opened  the  Bible  and  taken  the  sense  of  the 
text  that  met  his  eyes.  This  time  he  decided  to  submit  him- 
self to  the  inspiration  of  two  privileged  souls.  Brother  Masseo 
was  therefore  sent  away,  first  to  St.  Clara  and  then  to  Brother 
Silvester,  who  lived  a  hermit  life  in  a  cave  on  Monte  Subasio, 
where  now  is  situated  the  convent  Carceri,  in  whose  garden 
the  first  cells  of  the  Franciscans  are  still  shown.  Francis 
determined  to  follow  the  judgment  of  Silvester  and  Clara. 

"But  Brother  Silvester  started  at  once  to  pray,"  we  are  told 
in  Actus  beati  Francisci.  "And  in  prayer  he  at  once  got  the 
answer  from  God.  And  he  went  to  Brother  Masseo  and  said, 
'This  says  the  Lord,  you  shall  tell  Brother  Francis  that  God 
has  not  called  him  for  his  own  sake  only,  but  also  that  he  shall 
win  many  souls!'  And  then  Brother  Masseo  went  to  St. 
Clara.  .  .  .  But  she  answered  and  said  that  she  and  another 
Sister  had  had  the  same  answer  exactly  from  God  as  Brother 
Silvester. 

"But  Brother  Masseo  went  back  to  St.  Francis.  And  St. 
Francis  received  him  lovingly  and  prepared  for  them  a  meal, 
and  when  they  had  eaten  Francis  called  him  out  into  the  woods. 
And  St.  Francis  bared  his  head,  crossed  his  arms  over  his 
chest,  knelt  down,  asked  and  said,  'What  does  my  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  tell  me  to  do?  '  Brother  Masseo  answered  that 
both  Brother  Silvester  and  Sister  Clara  and  another  had 
received  the  answer  from  Jesus  Christ  the  glorious:  'that 
thou  shalt  go  out  and  preach,  for  God  has  not  called  you  for 
your  own  sake  alone,  but  also  to  save  others ! '  And  then  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  was  lifted  over  St.  Francis  and  he  sprang  up 
in  the  glow  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  inspired  by  power  from  on 
high,  he  said  to  Brother  Masseo,  'Well,  let  us  go!'  And  he 
took  Brother  Masseo  with  him  and  Brother  Angelo,  both  of 
whom  were  holy  men.  .  .  .  And  they  came  between  Cannara 
and  Bevagna.1 

"And  St.  Francis  saw  some  trees  by  the  roadside,  and  in 
these  trees  there  was  a  multitude  of  birds  of  all  kinds,  such  as 
never  before  were  seen  in  this  region.  And  a  great  quantity 
were  on  the  ground  under  the  trees.     And  when  St.  Francis 

1  Two  small  towns  between  Assisi  and  Montefalco. 


150  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

saw  all  this  multitude,  the  Spirit  of  God  came  over  him,  and 
he  said  to  his  disciples,  'Wait  for  me  here,  I  am  going  to 
preach  to  our  sisters  the  birds ! '  And  he  walked  into  the  field 
up  to  the  birds  who  sat  upon  the  earth.  And  as  soon  as  he 
began  to  preach  all  the  birds  who  sat  in  the  trees  flew  down 
to  him,  and  none  of  them  moved,  although  he  went  right 
among  them,  so  that  his  cowl  touched  several  of  them.  .  .  . 

"But  St.  Francis  said  to  the  birds:  'My  sister  Birds!  You 
owe  God  much  gratitude,  and  ought  always  and  everywhere 
to  praise  and  exalt  him,  because  you  can  fly  so  freely,  wher- 
ever you  want  to,  and  for  your  double  and  threefold  clothing 
and  for  your  colored  and  adorning  coats  and  for  the  food, 
which  you  do  not  have  to  work  for,  and  for  the  beautiful 
voices  the  Creator  has  given  you.  You  sow  not,  neither  do 
you  reap,  but  God  feeds  you  and  gives  you  rivers  and  springs 
to  drink  from,  and  hills  and  mountains,  cliffs  and  rocks  to 
hide  yourselves  in,  and  high  trees  for  you  to  build  your  nests  in, 
and  though  you  can  neither  spin  nor  weave,  he  gives  you  and 
your  young  ones  the  necessary  clothing.  Love  therefore  the 
Creator  much,  since  he  has  given  you  such  great  blessings. 
Watch  therefore  well,  my  sister  birds,  that  you  are  not 
ungrateful,  but  busy  yourselves  always  in  praising  God!' 

"  But  after  this,  our  holy  father's  word,  all  those  little  birds 
began  to  open  their  beaks  to  beat  with  their  wings  and  stretch 
out  their  necks  and  bow  their  heads  reverently  to  the  earth, 
and  with  their  song  and  their  movements  showed  that  the 
words  St.  Francis  had  said  had  pleased  them  greatly.  But 
St.  Francis  rejoiced  in  his  spirit  as  he  saw  this  and  wondered 
over  so  many  birds  and  over  their  variety  and  differences 
and  that  they  were  so  tame,  and  he  praised  the  Creator  for  it 
and  gently  exhorted  them  to  praise  the  Creator  themselves. 

"And  when  St.  Francis  had  finished  his  sermon  and  his 
exhortation  to  praise  God,  he  made  the  sign  of  the  Cross  over 
all  the  birds.  And  all  the  birds  flew  up. at  once  and  twittered 
wonderfully  and  strongly,  and  separated  and  flew  away."  l 


XII,  3 


Actus,  cap.  XVII.    Fioretti,  cap.  16.     Cel.,  Vita  prima,  I,  58.    Bonav., 

'    1. 


CHAPTER  II 
MISSIONARY  JOURNEYS 

IT  was  not  now  the  intention  of  St.  Francis  to  restrict  him- 
self to  a  new  mission  trip  through  Italy.  He  had  greater 
plans,  as  he  went  out  of  Assisi  this  time,  and  in  a  sense 
it  was  his  youthful  dream  of  wars  that  returned  to  the 
man  of  thirty  years.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Crusades  —  not 
many  years  later  John  of  Brienne,  a  brother  of  Francis'  old- 
time  hero,  Walter,  was  to  go  to  Damietta  at  the  head  of  a 
great  army  of  Christians.  Francis  too  would  go  on  a  cru- 
sade, but  with  no  other  weapon  than  the  gospel.  What  he 
had  in  mind  was  no  less  than  to  preach  Christianity  and 
conversion  to  the  Saracens.1 

First  he  wished  to  obtain  the  Pope's  assent  to  his  new  pro- 
posal. It  is  said  of  St.  Dominic  that  he  "was  always  to  be 
found  on  the  road  to  Rome  to  obtain  instructions."2  The 
same  applies  to  Francis.  Two  years  after  he  had  obtained 
Innocent  Ill's  verbal  ratification  of  the  Rules  of  the  Order,  we 
find  him  again  in  Rome  to  remind  the  Pope  of  the  promises  he 
had  then  given.3  He  could  now  well  say  that  "  God  had  mul- 
tiplied his  Brother's  voice"  and  could  therefore  beg  to  have  a 
greater  mission  given  him. 

We  know  little  of  Francis'  third  journey  to  Rome.  On  the 
way  he  visited  Alviano,  near  Todi,  where  he,  preaching  in  the 
market-place,  is  said  to  have  ordered  the  swallows,  swooping 
about  and  disturbing  him  with  their  cries,  to  be  silent.4  Per- 
haps he  also  went  through  Narni  and  Toscanella.5 

In  Rome  Francis  preached  as  usual  in  the  streets  and  alleys. 
With  these  sermons  he  won  two  new  Brothers  —  Zacharias, 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.y  I,  55.  2  Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Fr.  (1894),  p.  247. 

3  See  p.  94.  <  CeLj  V,  pr^  i}  S9>     Bonav.,  XII,  4. 

6  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  65-66.     Bonav.,  XII,  9. 


152  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

who  afterwards  became  a  missionary  in  Spain,  and  William, 
the  first  Englishman  who  entered  the  Order.1  Far  more 
important  for  the  whole  future  of  the  Order  was  the  friendship 
Francis  here  contracted  with  a  woman  whom  he  later,  on 
account  of  her  manly  character,  called  jokingly  "Brother 
Jacoba"2  —  the  wife  of  the  Roman  nobleman  Gratiano  Frangi- 
pani.  Her  name  was  Giacoma  or  Jacopa  de  Settisoli,  and  she 
was  about  twenty-five  years  old.3 

The  Frangipani  family  is  one  of  the  noblest  in  Rome ;  it  is 
said  to  have  sprung  from  the  gens  Anicia,  which  counts  among 
its  members  in  the  course  of  years  a  Benedict  of  Nurcia,  a 
Paulinus  of  Nola,  and  St.  Gregory.  In  the  year  717  Flavius 
Anicius  Petrus,  then  the  head  of  the  family,  by  generous  gifts 
of  bread  during  a  great  scarcity  of  food  in  Rome  won  the 
name  of  "the  Breaker  of  Bread."  In  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century  the  Frangipanis  lived  in  Rome  with  exten- 
sive estates  in  the  trans-Tib erian  region  and  on  the  Esquiline, 
where  they  possessed,  among  the  rest  of  their  property,  the 
castle-like  remains  of  the  Septizonium  of  Septimus  Severus  — 
a  name  which  in  a  changed  form  still  lives  in  the  title  of  the 
Roman  street  Via  delle  sette  Sale  and  from  which  Gratiano 
Frangipani's  wife  acquired  her  name  de  Settesoli. 

Giacoma  is  said  to  have  been  of  a  mixture  of  Norman  and 
Sicilian  blood.  She  was  probably  born  about  1190,  for  in 
1 2 10  she  was  married  and  had  a  son,  Giovanni.  Afterwards 
she  had  another  son,  Gratiano,  in  121 7,  shortly  after  her  hus- 
band's death.  Already  in  the  year  121 2  she  had  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Francis  of  Assisi  —  an  acquaintance  which 
on  the  next  visit  of  the  Umbrian  evangelist  to  Rome  was  to 
develop  into  a  true  and  inward  friendship. 

Francis  had  certainly  little  trouble  in  obtaining  Innocent 
Ill's  blessing  on  his  work.     He  embarked  on  the  sea,  we  do 

1  Anal.  Fr.,  Ill,  p.  12.     Wadding,  1212,  n.  35,  after  Mariano. 

2  "Nam  .  .  .  fratrem  Jacobam  nominavit."  Bernard  a  Bessa:  De  laudibus, 
Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  687. 

3  I  follow  here  Edouard  d'Alencon:  "Frere  Jacqueline."  Recherches  his- 
toriques  sur  Jacqueline  de  SettisoU,  I'amie  de  Saint  Francois,  Paris,  1899.  For 
the  historical  basis  of  her  history,  see  also  P.  Sabatier:  Del' evolution des  Legendes. 
A  propos  de  la  visile  de  Jacqueline  de  S.  a  s.  Franqois  in  Suttina's  "Bull,  critico, " 
I,  pp.  22  et  seq. 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  153 

not  know  from  which  port.  Storms  drove  the  ship  off  her 
course,  and  she  stranded  on  the  coast  of  Slavonia.  There 
was  no  way  of  embarking  thence  for  the  Orient  —  it  was  late 
in  the  year,  and  the  weather  was  also  unfavorable  for  the 
sea-crossing.  Francis  tried  to  get  a  ship  for  Ancona,  but  the 
seamen  were  unwilling  to  load  a  ship  with  him  and  his  follow- 
ers. They  then  formed  the  plan  of  hiding  themselves  among 
the  ship's  cargo  without  the  crew  knowing  it;  they  emerged 
only  after  the  ship  was  on  the  open  sea,  and  as  the  voyage  on 
account  of  unfavorable  weather  lasted  longer  than  was  ex- 
pected, and  the  ship's  rations  became  exhausted,  the  two 
hidden  passengers  obtained  permission  to  share  their  rations 
with  the  crew.1 

Hardly  had  Francis'  feet  touched  Italian  soil  when  he  took 
up  his  old  way  of  life  and  went  preaching  from  city  to  city. 
In  Ascoli  his  preaching  had  such  effect  that  over  thirty  men, 
some  priests,  some  laymen,  sought  to  be  received  into  the 
Brotherhood.2  Everywhere  he  was  surrounded  as  before  by 
the  jubilations  and  crowds  of  people;  they  strove  at  least 
to  touch  the  skirt  of  his  garment.  Only  the  Cathari,  also 
diffused  through  the  Ancona  region,  kept  away  from  him, 
for  the  kernel  of  his  preaching  —  as  of  all  his  religious  life  — 
was  the  absolute,  unconditional  and  in  all  unessential  things 
blind  obedience  to  the  Roman  Church,  and  the  principal 
sequence  thereof,  a  deep  reverence  for  the  priests  of  the  same 
Church.  It  was  with  timely  retrospect  over  this  and  similar 
missionary  journeys  that  Francis  in  his  Testament  has  written 
words  about  " the  poor  minor  priests  in  the  parishes  about," 
whom  he  in  spite  of  all  will  "fear,  love  and  honor"  as  his 
masters  and  "not  look  upon  their  faults."  3 

This  last  was  what  the  Cathari  wanted;  they  expatiated 
long  and  loud  over  the  sins  of  the  priests,  and  thus  took  many 
out  of  that  Church  which  the  priests  represented.  Francis 
was  of  that  rare  nature  that  can  discriminate  between  things 

1  Cel,  V.  pr.,  I,  n.  55. 

2  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  n.  62.  * 

3  "Et  si  haberem  tantam  sapientiam,  quantam  Salomon  habuit,  et  inveni- 
rem  pauperculos  sacerdotes  ...  in  parochiis  in  quibus  morantur  .  .  .  ipsos 
et  omnes  alios  volo  timere,  amare  et  honorare  sicut  meos  dominos;  et  nolo 
in  ipsis  considerare  peccatum."     (Opuscula,  ed.  Quar.,  p.  78.) 


1 54  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

and  persons,  and  he  knew  how  to  inspire  the  same  spirit  in 
his  brethren.  "But  how  can  a  priest  lie?"  Brother  Giles 
asked  in  this  spirit,  incensed  over  so  unreasonable  a  supposi- 
tion.1 

While  in  Ancona  this  time,  Francis  converted  a  celebrated 
man  of  that  time,  the  troubador,  Guglielmo  Divini,  called 
by  the  people,  "the  Verse-king."  2  Divini  was  on  a  visit  to 
the  village  San  Severino  in  the  Mark  of  Ancona,  where  he  had 
a  relative,  a  nun.  Francis  was  preaching  in  the  convent  at 
the  time  and  the  celebrated  poet  heard  him  there. 

There  was,  according  to  all  testimony,  something  very 
impressive  in  Francis'  way  of  speaking.  It  was  not  so  much 
a  sermon,  says  Thomas  of  Spalato,  as  a  concio,  sl  lecture,  that 
touched  on  practical  and  moral  reform.3  And  Francis  was 
an  unbending  moralist.  He  was  not  silent  about  wrongs 
that  he  saw,  but  gave  everything  its  right  name.  In  spite 
of  his  poor  external  appearance,  he  inspired  thereby  not  only 
wonder  but  also  fright;  there  was  something  of  John  the 
Baptist  about  him.4  In  his  writings  there  is  many  a  Woe 
to  the  sinner,  whose  wages  are  eternal  fire ! 5  He  was  not 
afraid  to  threaten  with  God's  judgment.6  His  words  were 
compared  to  a  sword  that  pierces  through  hearts.7 

So  Guglielmo  Divini  heard  the  celebrated  preacher  of  re- 
pentance in  the  cloister  in  San  Severino.  The  poet  came  from 
curiosity,  and  a  crowd  of  the  gay  youth  of  the  village  with 
him.  At  first  Francis  did  not  impress  them  greatly.  But 
the  verse-king  soon  began  to  listen  —  it  seemed  to  him  as  if 
the  poor  little  man  from  Assisi  talked  to  him  alone,  as  if  all 
the  words  he  heard  were  directed  to  him,  and  one  after  another 
like  well-aimed  arrows,  sent  by  a  master-hand,  thrust  their 
points  into  his  heart.  .  .  . 

What  did  Francis  talk  about?    It  was  on  his  usual  theme  — 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  46.     Compare  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  79. 

3  "Vocabatur  nomen  ejus  Rex  versuum."     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  III,  49. 

3  Boehmer:  "Analekten"  (1904),  p.  106. 

4  Spec  perf.,  cap.  105.     Tres  Socii,  cap.  XIII. 

6  Opuscula  (Quaracchi),  pp.  51,  71,  95,  96-97,  114. 
6  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  6,  and  III,  121. 

'"Verba  acutissima,  penetrantia  corda,"  " separationis  gladius."  Tres 
Socii,  cap.  XIV.  "gladium  verbi  Dei,"  "  transverberat  coro."  Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  49. 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  155 

to  despise  the  world  and  to  be  converted  so  as  to  withstand 
the  coming  wrath.  And  when  he  was  through,  the  simple  and 
great  thing  at  once  happened,  and  Guglielmo  Divini  rose  up, 
fell  at  the  feet  of  Francis,  and  cried  out,  "Brother!  take 
me  away  from  men  and  give  me  to  God!" 

On  the  next  day  Francis  clothed  him  in  the  grey  clothes  of 
the  Order  and  girded  his  loins  with  the  cord,  and  gave  him  the 
name  Pacificus,  because  he  had  left  the  world's  tumult  for 
the  peace  of  God.1 

Thus,  too,  a  century  later,  another  much  greater  poet  was 
to  seek  for  peace  among  the  children  of  St.  Francis.  One 
evening  he,  already  grey  and  bowed  down,  stood  before  a 
lonely  cloister  in  the  Apennines  and  knocked  at  the  door. 
And  to  the  porter's  question  as  to  what  he  sought  there,  the 
great  Florentine  (Dante)  gave  only  the  one  all-including 
answer,  Pace!    " Peace!" 

Although  Francis  thus  received  every  one  with  a  troubled 
heart  who  came  to  him,  and  without  further  novitiate  clothed 
him  in  the  Order's  garb  —  it  was  in  1220  that  a  year's  trial 
or  novitiate  was  established  —  he  had  a  wonderful  ability 
at  discriminating  among  the  many  who  began  to  wish  to  be 
received  among  the  Brothers.  A  short  period  had  elapsed 
after  Pacificus'  conversion  when  a  young  nobleman  from 
Lucca  sought  Francis  and  with  tears  cast  himself  at  his  feet, 
and  asked  to  be  one  of  his  sons.  Francis  addressed  him  with 
severity.  "Your  weeping  is  a  lie!"  he  said,  "your  heart 
does  not  belong  to  God !  Why  do  you  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  to  me?"  Thus  it  appeared  that  the  longing  for  the 
cloister  was  only  a  caprice  of  the  young  man,  perhaps  conceived 
in  a  moment  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  conditions  of  home. 
When  his  parents  came  to  beg  him  to  come  back,  he 
readily  complied.2 

Especially  was  Francis  on  his  guard  with  the  book-learned, 
viri  literati.     "When  such  a  book-man  comes  to  me,"  he  said 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  49.    Compare  III,  63.    Spec,  perf.,  capp.  59-60.    Bonav., 

IV,  50-51.  Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  27,  and  III,  76.  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  100.  Brother 
Pacificus  was  sent  to  France  at  the  head  of  the  Franciscan  mission  in  121 7. 
Spec,  perf.,  p.  122  (Sabatier's  ed.).    For  Francis'  way  of  preaching,  see  also  Cel., 

V.  sec,  III,  50.     Fioretti,  cap.  30. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  11,  (d'Alencon's  ed.). 


156  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

openly,  "I  see  at  once  if  his  intentions  are  sincere  when  his 
first  prayer  to  me  is  this  one:  'Behold,  Brother,  I  have  lived 
long  in  the  world  and  never  rightly  knew  my  God.  Give  me 
a  place  far  from  the  world's  alarms,  where  I  in  the  bitterness 
of  heart  can  think  over  the  years  I  have  lost  and  squandered, 
to  live  a  better  life  in  the  future.' "  l 

It  was  only  for  the  disinherited  of  this  world,  the  poor  and 
oppressed,  the  unfortunate  and  lost,  the  lepers,  thieves  and 
robbers,  that  Francis'  heart  was  open  without  reservation. 
It  is  true  that  the  Benedictines'  Rules  contained  at  this  time 
the  words:  "All  strangers  shall  be  received  as  if  it  were 
Christ,"  but  Francis  himself  had  found  by  trial  in  his  youth 
that  this  command  was  not  always  lived  up  to,  that  it  was 
observed  in  the  case  of  guests  who  could  claim  a  position  in 
society,  but  that  it  was  not  observed  in  the  case  of  those  who 
needed  it  the  most,  the  homeless,  the  tramps  and  the  beggars. 
It  is  certain  that  with  the  experiences  of  his  youth  at  St. 
Maria  della  Rocca  in  mind,  Francis  in  his  Rule  at  the  very 
beginning  wrote  the  beautiful  words:  "And  whoever  comes 
to  the  Brethren,  Friend  or  Enemy,  Thief  or  Robber,  shall  be 
kindly  received."  2 

Even  his  most  devoted  disciples  had  trouble  sometimes  in 
following  him  in  this  matter.  The  Speculum  perfectionis 
contains  the  following  impressive  tale,  from  the  early  days  of 
the  Order: 

"In  a  hermitage  over  Borgo  San  Sepolcro"  —  Monte 
Casale  is  meant;  Borgo  San  Sepolcro  is  a  village  about  half- 
way between  Mt.  Alverna  and  Gubbio  —  "it  happened  that 
robbers  who  used  to  keep  in  the  woods  and  fall  upon  way- 
farers, came  and  asked  for  bread;  'but  some  of  the  Brothers 
said  that  it  was  not  right  to  give  them  alms.  .  .  . 

"Meanwhile  St.  Francis  came  to  this  convent,  and  the 
Brothers  asked  him  if  it  were  right  to  give  alms  to  robbers, 
and  St.  Francis  answered  them  thus:    'If  you  do  as  I  say, 

1  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  III,  123  (Amoni).  In  Verba  Fratris  Conradi  is  a  recital  of  how 
a  learned  man  (magnus  doctor)  was  first  received  into  the  Order  after  having 
worked  for  a  month  in  the  kitchen.     (Sabatier:  Opuscules  de  critique,  I,  pp. 

381-383.) 

2  "  Et  quicumque  ad  eos  venerit,  amicus  vel  adversarius,  fur  vel  latro,  benigne 
recipiatur."  Reg.  prima,  cap.  VII.     Compare  p.  49  of  this  book. 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  157 

then  have  I  hope  in  God  that  I  will  save  their  souls.  Go  then 
and  get  good  bread  and  good  wine,  take  it  out  to  them  in  the 
woods  and  say  to  them:  'Brother  robbers!  Come  here!  We 
are  Brothers,  and  we  come  with  good  wine  and  good  bread  to 
you ! '  Then  they  will  come  at  once  and  I  will  spread  a  cloth 
on  the  ground  and  set  the  table  for  them,  and  wait  on  them 
with  humility  and  cheerfulness  while  they  eat.  But  when 
they  are  through  I  will  speak  God's  word  to  them,  and  finally 
I  shall  beg  them  to  grant  you  a  request  in  God's  name,  namely, 
that  they  shall  promise  you  not  to  kill  anyone  and  to  do 
bodily  harm  to  no  one.  If  I  ask  everything  of  them  at  once 
they  will  answer, '  No,'  but  now  for  the  sake  of  your  humility 
and  goodness  they  will  promise  you  this. 

"The  next  day,  in  requital  of  their  good  promises,  you 
shall  go  out  to  them  with  bread  and  wine,  eggs  and  fruit,  and 
wait  upon  them  while  they  eat.  And  when  they  have  finished, 
you  shall  say  to  them:  'Why  do  you  wander  about  all  day 
and  suffer  hunger  and  endure  so  much,  and  in  thought  and 
deed  perpetrate  so  many  things,  and  imperil  your  souls?  It 
is  much  better  to  serve  the  Lord;  then  he  will  give  you  what 
you  need  here  upon  earth,  and  at  the  same  time  you  will 
save  your  souls!'  Then  the  Lord  will  grant  them  that  for 
the  sake  of  your  humility  and  patience  they  will  be  converted. 

"But  the  Brothers  did  all,  just  as  St.  Francis  had  said,  and 
the  robbers,  from  thankfulness  and  with  God's  mercy,  held 
point  for  point  and  jot  for  jot  what  the  Brothers  had  enjoined 
them.  Yes,  for  the  sake  of  the  humility  and  confidence  of 
the  Brothers,  they  helped  them  and  carried  wood  into  the 
hermitage,  and  eventually  some  of  them  entered  the  Order. 
But  others  confessed  their  sins,  and  did  penance  for  their 
transgressions,  and  promised  the  Brothers  solemnly,  to  live 
by  the  work  of  their  hands,  and  never  to  do  such  things  again." 1 

1  Spec,  per/.,  cap.  66.  In  Actus,  cap.  XXIX  (Fioretti,  cap.  26),  the 
same  story  is  found  more  in  detail.  Here  the  guardian  drives  the  robbers 
out  of  the  convent  door  with  scornful  words.  When  Francis  appeared  "car- 
rying a  sack  with  bread  and  a  bottle  of  wine,"  which  he  had  begged,  he  scolded 
the  guardian  and  told  him  as  a  penance  to  take  the  sack  and  bottle  and  search 
for  the  robbers  "over  mountain  and  valley/'  until  he  found  them.  "And  then 
thou  shalt  kneel  down  before  them  and  humbly  beg  them  for  forgiveness  for 
thy  rudeness  and  severity."     {Fioretti.) 


158  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

As  this  tale,  one  of  the  oldest  remains  we  possess,  lies  before 
us,  it  gives  us  a  full  conception  both  of  Francis'  knowledge 
of  men  —  he  knew  that  it  was  useless  to  preach  to  a  hungry 
man,  he  knew  also  that  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day  —  and 
of  his  unpharisaical  love  of  men.  Here  is  one  of  the  moments 
in  the  history  of  Christendom,  when  the  words  of  the  gospel 
are  understood  exactly  as  they  were  said:  "And  if  you  love 
them  that  love  you,  what  reward  shall  you  have?  Do  not 
even  the  publicans  this?"  But  do  good  without  expecting 
anything  from  it!  "And  your  reward  shall  be  great,  and 
you  shall  be  the  sons  of  the  Highest,  for  he  is  kind  to  the 
unthankful  and  to  the  evil."  l 

If  Francis  was  thus  indulgent  to  the  last  degree  with  great 
sinners,  so  on  the  other  hand  he  put  good  people  to  a  severe 
test.  From  those  to  whom  much  was  given  he  expected 
much.  The  Fioretti  have  preserved  for  us  many  incidents 
which  illustrate  this  characteristic  in  him,  —  such  demeanor 
in  the  case  of  Rufino,  who  belonged  to  one  of  Assisi's  best 
families,  and  whom  he  ordered  to  go  naked  from  Portiuncula 
to  the  city,  and  to  preach  naked  in  the  cathedral.2  A  similar 
command  was  that  which  he  gave  to  Brother  Agnolo  near 
Borgo  San  Sepolcro,  who  belonged  to  that  place  and  who 
like  Rufino  was  of  good  family.  He  too  was  to  go  naked 
into  the  town  and  announce  that  Francis  would  come  next 
day  and  preach  there.  But  he  was  called  back  as  he  was 
approaching  the  city  gate,  and  Francis  promised  him  paradise 
for  the  readiness  with  which  he  had  humiliated  himself.3 

Little  is  known  with  certainty  of  Francis  of  Assisi's  journeys 
during  the  next  few  years.  Wadding  has  with  admirable 
sagacity  tried  to  put  into  order  all  the  fragmentary  pieces 
which  constitute  the  biographical  material  for  these  years, 
so  as  to  form  an  artificial  mosaic,  but  he  failed  in  the  attempt. 

1  Matth.  v.  47.  Luke  vi.  35.  This  particular  way  of  God  made  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  Francis  —  see  his  own  words  in  Bartholomew  of  Pisa:  " Curialitas 
est  una  de  proprietatibus  Domini,  que  solem  suum  et  pluviam  suam  et  omnia 
super  justos  et  injustos  curialiter  administrat"  (Actus,  Sabatier's  ed.,  p.  205, 
n.  2). 

7  Fioretti,  cap.  30. 

a  Speculum  vitae  (Antwerp,  1620),  p.  II,  cap.  25.  Compare  Sab.,  Opusc. 
de  crit.,  I,  p.  74,  n.  2,  and  Wadding,  1213,  n.  24. 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  159 

And  when  he,  for  example,  assumes  that  Francis  was  sick  in 
Assisi  in  the  winter  of  1212-1213,  and  sent  out  from  his  sick- 
bed his  " Letters  to  all  Christians,"  it  confuses  the  occasion 
with  much  later  events. 

We  can  with  some  certainty  believe  that  Francis  pursued 
his  journey  through  Italy.  However  this  may  be,  we  meet 
him  in  the  beginning  of  12 13  on  a  similar  mission  —  a  journey 
in  the  province  of  Romagna.  In  this  region,  not  far  from 
the  little  republic  of  San  Marino,  there  was  in  olden  times  a 
nobleman's  castle  called  Montefeltro  (now  Sasso-Feltrio  near 
the  city  of  San  Leo). 

Francis  and  his  companion  —  probably  Leo  —  came  to 
this  city  on  a  beautiful  May  morning  just  as  the  banners 
flying  from  the  towers  and  the  proud  blare  of  the  trumpets 
announced  a  great  festival.  Gaily  dressed  pages  and  men- 
at-arms  hastened  over  the  drawbridge,  knights  on  powerful 
chargers,  brightly  caparisoned,  thronged  under  the  gateway, 
swinging  carriages  bore  ladies,  young  and  old,  with  laced 
bodices  and  high  head-dresses  up  the  steep  road  to  the  castle. 
Everything  indicated  that  a  festive  tourney  was  to  be  held, 
to  which  all  the  nobility  of  the  district  was  invited. 

All  the  splendor  here  displayed  did  not  irritate  Brother 
Francis.  Pious  people  are  addicted  to  this  failing,  so  that 
Francis  was  wont  to  warn  his  disciples  against  judging  and 
despising  those  who  went  in  costly  clothes  and  lived  in  lux- 
ury.1 "God  is  also  their  master,"  said  he;  "he  can  call  them 
when  he  will  and  make  them  just  and  holy."  Had  not  this 
happened  to  him? 

Therefore  he  stood  there  a  little  while  and  looked  at  the 
banner  that  waved  over  the  gate  with  the  bearings  of  the 
barons  of  Montefeltro.  He  then  turned  with  a  smile  to  his 
companion. 

"What  do  you  think?  Should  we  too  go  up  to  the  festival? 
Perhaps  we  can  win  a  good  knight  for  God's  cause!" 

^'Admonebat  etiam  fratres,  ut  nullum  hominem  judicarent,  neque  despi- 
cerent  illos,  qui  delicate  vivunt  ac  superflue  induuntur."  Tres  Socii,  cap. 
XIV,  n.  58.  Compare  Regula  sec,  cap.  II:  "Quos  moneo  et  exhortor,  ne 
despiciant  neque  judicent  homines,  quos  vident  mollibus  vestimentis  et  coloratis 
indutos,  uti  cibis  et  potibus  delicatis,  sed  magis  unusquisque  judicet  et  despiciat 
semetipsum."     (Opusc,  ed.  Quar.,  p.  65.) 


l6o  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

It  was  done  as  he  said.  The  occasion  of  the  festival  was 
the  knighting  of  a  young  soldier.  All  attended  mass,  during 
which  the  young  man  took  the  pledges  of  knighthood,  and 
then  Francis  ascended  some  steps  in  the  castle  garden  and 
began  to  speak.  As  his  text  he  had  chosen  some  words  in 
the  dialect  of  the  people,  a  simple  doggerel  such  as  children 
use,  the  two  following  lines: 

Tanto  e  il  bene  ch'  io  aspetto 
Ch'  ogni  pena  m'e  dilletto 

I  hope  that  I  so  blessed  will  be 
That  every  suffering  pleases  me. 

One  can  easily  imagine  that  Francis,  grown  up  as  he  was 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  romances  of  King  Arthur  and  the 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  developed  this  text  somewhat 
in  the  following  manner: 

"The  knight,"  he  began,  "who  wants  to  win  a  lovely  dame, 
must  be  ready  to  undergo  great  and  many  sufferings.  She 
may  require  of  him  that  he  shall  go  on  a  crusade  against  the 
sultan,  perhaps  that  he  shall  bring  her  a  horn  of  the  unicorn 
or  an  egg  of  the  bird  called  the  roc.  Perhaps  that  he  shall 
set  free  a  captive  maiden,  or  ride  a  fully  equipped  charger 
over  a  bridge  which  is  so  small  that  one  can  hardly  walk 
across  it,  while  under  it  pours  a  wild  torrent.  And  all  these 
dangers  and  sufferings  the  true  and  noble  knight  is  ready  to 
undergo,  only  because  his  dear  lady  wishes  it,  and  through 
all  his  tribulations  he  thinks  only  of  her  white  hand  that  she 
will  give  him  to  kiss  when  he  goes  back  with  deeds  well  done, 
and  immediately  his  despondency  and  gloom  are  over.  .  .  . 

"But  now  there  is  another  and  far  nobler  knighthood,  to 
which  all  men  are  called,  and  not  only  those  of  noble  birth. 
There  is  another  battle,  not  to  win  the  favor  of  an  earthly 
beauty,  but  to  do  the  will  of  the  eternal  and  highest  beauty, 
who  is  God.  .  .  .  For  is  not  God  far  more  beautiful  than 
all  the  beautiful  ladies  —  for  they  are  all  the  work  of  His 
hands,  made  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth?  Is  not  He  who 
made  so  much  that  is  beautiful,  is  not  He  still  more  beautiful 
than  all  His  creatures?    Yes,  He  is  that,  and  therefore  He 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  l6l 

also  deserves  that  you  go  out  as  knight-errants  for  Him,  and 
fight  valorously  for  His  honor  against  the  enemies  who  are 
the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  Devil.  And  what  will  He  not 
give  us  if  we  have  been  faithful  to  Him  —  like  a  knight  to 
his  ladylove  —  and  do  not  permit  ourselves  to  be  cast  down 
in  His  service  by  any  obstacle  or  suffering?  He  gives  us 
infinitely  more  than  even  the  most  beautiful  dame  can  give. 
She  has  only  herself,  her  hand,  and  her  heart;  but  the  hand 
shall  wither,  and  the  heart  shall  fail  some  time.  But  when 
God  gives  Himself  as  the  prize  for  the  victory,  as  the  shining 
prize  for  the  winner  of  the  joust,  then  He  gives  us  life,  light 
and  happiness  in  imperishable,  immortal  eternity."  * 

It  was  about  in  this  way  that  Brother  Francis  spoke,  and 
his  words  may  well  have  moved  many  a  young  and  noble 
heart.  But  one  among  them,  and  this  was  Duke  Orlando  dei 
Cattani  of  the  castle  of  Chiusi  in  Casentino,  approached 
Francis  and  spoke: 

"  Father,  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about  the  salvation  of  my 
soul!" 

But  Francis,  who  gave  God's  Spirit  time  to  work  upon  souls, 
had  no  haste,  but  answered: 

"Go  first  and  hold  festivities  with  your  friends,  wherever 
you  may  be  invited.  After  that  we  will  talk  in  peace  and 
quiet." 

1  When  Sabatier  so  eloquently  enlarges  upon  the  contrast  between  him 
who  serves  God  for  love  and  him  who  does  it  for  reward,  and  would  regard 
the  first  as  the  true  Franciscan,  the  other  as  the  principle  of  the  Church,  he 
describes  a  contrast  which  does  not  exist.  We  see  Francis  on  the  contrary 
constantly  preaching  on  the  topics  of  reward  and  punishment.  His  words  at 
the  "Chapter  of  Mats"  cannot  be  misunderstood  (Actus,  cap.  20:  "Magna  pro- 
misimus,  majora  vero  promissa  sunt  nobis.  .  .  .  Brevis  voluptas,  perpetua  poena. 
Modica  passio,  gloria  infinita  ").  In  the  Letter  to  all  Christians  Francis  descants 
in  the  same  way  with  the  expressions  "merces,"  "praemium,"  "remuneratio": 
(Op.,  p.  91),  and  he  takes  the  same  standpoint  in  the  Rule  of  the  Order  of  1223, 
cap.  IX,  where  he  as  the  text  of  sermons  especially  recommends  to  the  Brothers 
"Vitia  et  virtutes,  poenam  et  gloriam."  "Non  deterreat  vos  magnitudo  cer- 
taminis  et  laboris  immensitas,  quoniam  magnam  habetis  remunerationem," 
John  of  Parma  has  his  Domina  Paupertas  say  to  her  confidante  (Commercium, 
ed.  Alvisi,  p.  40).  The  whole  of  this  work,  which  is  written  from  the  extreme 
Franciscan  standpoint,  is  charged  with  thoughts  of  "a  reward  in  heaven," 
which  appears  to  be  so  strongly  repellent  to  Sabatier,  but  which  he,  if  consistent, 
must  object  to  in  our  Lord  (Matthew  vi.  1)  and  in  St.  Paul  (Romans,  viii. 
18). 

12 


162  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

When  the  tourney  was  over  the  young  duke  again  visited 
Francis,  and  they  talked  together;  but  at  the  end  of  the 
conversation  the  Duke  Orlando  said: 

"I  own  a  mountain  in  Tuscany,  which  is  called  La  Verna, 
a  very  lonely  mountain  well  adapted  to  meditation.  If  you 
would  wish  to  build  there,  you  and  your  Brothers,  then  for 
my  soul's  sake  will  I  give  it  to  you!" 

"But  St.  Francis"  —  thus  is  it  told  us  in  the  Actus  B. 
Francisci  — "  greatly  wished  to  find  lonely  places  where  it 
was  good  to  pray.  Therefore  he  thanked  first  of  all  God, 
who  with  his  faithful  took  care  of  his  lambs,  and  thereafter 
he  thanked  Lord  Orlando,  and  said:  'Lord  Duke,  when  you 
go  back  to  your  home  I  will  send  two  of  my  Brothers  to 
you,  and  you  can  show  them  this  mountain,  and  if  it  seems 
suited  to  prayer  and  meditation,  then  I  will  be  very  grateful 
to  you  for  your  friendly  offer.'"  l 


1  Actus,  cap.  9.  Compare  the  Consid.  delle  sacre  stimmate  (in  the  Appendix 
to  the  Fioretti).  —  Casentino  is  the  same  as  the  upper  Valley  of  the  Arno.  The 
ruins  of  Borgo  Chiusi  are  still  to  be  seen,  not  far  from  Mount  Alverno.  See 
Jorgensen's  "  Pilgrimsbogen,"  capp.  XX-XXIV. 

Francis  did  not  wish  to  receive  any  written  evidence  of  his  right  of  owner- 
ship to  the  mountain.  It  was  the  sons  of  Count  Orlando,  who  caused  a  formal 
letter  of  gift  to  be  issued,  of  which  Sbaralea  in  his  Bullarium  Franciscanum 
(IV,  Rome,  1768,  p.  156,  note  h)  gives  a  copy  after  the  original  preserved  in 
the  archives  of  Borgo  San  Sepolcro.     It  is  given  here: 

"In  Dei  Nomine.  Amen.  Anno  Dni  millesimo  ducentesimo  septuagesimo 
quarto  Gregorio  Papa  sedente  &  Romano  Imperio  vacante  die  Lunae  9.  Mensis 
Julii  .  .  .  Orlandus  de  Catanis  quondam  Domini  Orlandi,  Comes  de 
Clusio,  &  Cungius  &  Bandinus  &  Guglielmus  fratres  et  filii  dicti  Domini  Orlandi, 
ejus  verbo  et  auctoritate  et  qualiter  ex  certa  scientia,  et  non  per  aliquem  juris 
vel  facti  errorem,  confitentes  se  lege  Romana  vivere  et  esse  majores  viginti 
quinque  annis,  confessi  fuerunt,  quomodo  dictus  Dom.  Orlandus  Clusii  comes 
inter  milites  Imperatoris  strenuissimus  miles,  et  dictorum  pater,  oretenus 
dederit,  donaverit  atque  concesserit  libere  et  absque  nulla  exceptione  Fratri 
Francisco,  ejusque  sociis  fratribus,  tam  praesentibus  quam  futuris,  de  anno  Domini 
MCCXIII,  die  octava  Maji,  Alvernae  montem,  ita  ut  prsedictus  Pater  Franciscus, 
ejusque  fratres  ibi  habitare  possint,  et  per  praedictum  Montem  Alvemiae 
intelligimus  .  .  .  totam  terram  alboratam,  saxosam  et  prativam  absque  ulla 
exceptione  a  supercilio  praedicti  montis  usque  ad  radices  a  qualibet  parte,  quae 
praedictum  montem  circumdat  cum  suis  annexis." 

By  their  father's  command  the  sons  ratified  the  gift,  that  hitherto  had  been 
"in  voce  tantum  et  absque  ulla  scriptura."  At  the  same  time  they  made  over 
to  the  convent  at  La  Verna  many  relics  of  St.  Francis,  with  the  leather  belt 
Francis  had  brought  their  father  when  he  was  taken  into  the  Third  Order  of 
St.  Francis  ("habitum  sumpsit"). 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  163 

For  the  present,  Francis  himself  did  not  go  to  inspect  the 
Duke  Orlando's  gift.  For  again  did  the  crown  of  martyrdom 
beckon  to  him  from  afar.  He  had  not  succeeded  in  going  to 
the  Holy  Land  —  now  he  thought  of  bringing  the  gospel  to 
the  Mussulmen  on  the  further  side  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea 
in  Morocco.  Sultan  Mohammed  ben  Nasser,  the  Miramolin 
as  the  Christians  by  an  anagram  on  the  title  —  Emir-el- 
Mumenin,  "the  ruler  of  the  faithful"  —  were  wont  to  call 
him,  had  been  beaten  by  the  Spaniards  at  Tolosa,  and  was 
forced  to  retreat  to  Africa.  Here  Francis  determined  to  visit 
him,  and  started  on  the  journey,  probably  in  the  winter  of 
1213-1214.1  He  travelled  across  Spain,  but  he  fell  sick  as  he 
reached  the  end  of  his  journey,  and  again  had  to  return  home 
with  his  object  unattained.  On  reaching  Portiuncula  he 
took  several  new  Brothers  into  the  Order,  among  them 
Thomas  of  Celano.2 

The  year  after  this  fruitless  mission  to  the  heathen,  Francis 
seems  to  have  been  present  at  the  Fourth  Lateran  Council.3 
He  obtained  in  all  probability  on  this  occasion  Innocent  Ill's 
ratification  of  Clara's  and  her  Sisters'  privilege  of  poverty 
(see  p.  131). 

It  was  about  the  same  time  that  the  French  prelate, 
Jacques  de  Vitry  (see  Appendix,  p.  401),  passed  through 
Italy  on  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  then  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  first  Friars  Minor.  In  a  letter  sent  from 
Genoa  in  October,  12 16  to  his  friends  at  home,  the  French 
Canon  thus  expresses  himself: 

"In  the  time  that  I  spent  at  the  Curia"  (the  Papal  Court 
in  Perugia)  "I  saw  much  that  I  was  entirely  dissatisfied  with; 
all  was  so  taken  up  with  worldly  and  temporary  affairs  of 

1  "Post  non  multum  tempus,"  i.e.  alter  the  return  from  Slavonia,  says 
Celano  (V.  pr.,  I,  20.  Compare  Tract,  de  tnir.,  V.,  34).  Sabatier  would  put 
the  journey  in  1214-1215.  Compare  Etudes  Franc.,  XV,  p.  384,  and  XVI,  pp. 
60  et  seq. 

2  Vita  pr.,  same  place.  The  later  biographers  make  Francis  visit  S.  Jago 
da  Compostella  and  establish  a  lot  of  cloisters  in  Spain,  Southern  France,  and 
Piedmont  {Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  9).  The  Bollandists  throw  out  all  these  tra- 
ditions. It  is  certain  that  Luc  de  Tuy  in  his  History  of  the  World  first  for  the 
year  1 21 7  writes:  "  Eo  tempore  per  totam  Hispaniam  .  .  .  Fratrum  Minorum 
construunt  monasteria."     A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  603,  n.  303. 

3  Anal.  Franc.,  Ill,  9. 


164  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

politics  and  law,  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to  get  in  a  word 
of  spiritual  affairs. 

"  There  was  one  thing,  however,  which  comforted  me  in 
these  surroundings:  many  men  and  women,  among  them 
many  rich  and  worldly,  have  for  Christ's  sake  forsaken  every- 
thing and  fled  from  the  world.  They  are  called  Friars  Minor, 
and  stand  in  high  repute  both  with  Pope  and  Cardinals.  But 
they  take  no  heed  of  temporal  things,  but  work  day  in  and 
day  out  with  zeal  and  diligence  to  draw  souls  away  from  the 
vanities  of  the  world,  so  that  they  will  not  fall  to  the  ground, 
and  to  take  them  along  with  themselves.  And  with  the  favor 
of  God  they  have  already  reaped  a  rich  harvest.  .  .  . 

"But  they  live  after  the  example  of  the  primitive  man,  of 
whom  it  is  written :  '  the  multitude  of  the  faithful  were  of  one 
heart  and  one  mind.'  By  day  they  labor  and  go  into  the 
cities  and  highways  to  capture  souls,  but  at  night  they  turn 
back  to  waste  places  and  lonely  regions,  where  they  give 
themselves  up  to  prayer.  The  women  abide  together  in 
various  retreats  in  the  vicinity  of  the  cities;  they  receive 
nothing,  but  live  from  the  work  of  their  hands.  ...  But 
the  men  of  this  Order  come  together  once  a  year  with  great 
provision  to  a  predetermined  place,  to  hold  a  feast  together 
and  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  with  the  support  of  good  men 
they  ordain  and  announce  their  laws,  which  the  Pope  ratifies. 
After  this  they  disperse,  and  for  the  entire  year  are  in  Lom- 
bardy,  and  Tuscany,  and  Apulia,  and  Sicily.  But  a  holy  and 
God-fearing  man,  Nicholas,  the  Pope's  secretary,  recently 
forsook  the  Curia  and  went  to  them,  but  was  called  back 
because  the  Pope  could  not  do  without  him."  l 

In  the  summer  of  12 16  the  Papal  Court  was  stationed  in 
Perugia,  and,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  last  lines  of  Jacques 
de  Vitry's  sketch,  the  movement  started  by  Francis  began  to 
spread  up  to  the  highest  hierarchy.  The  Bishop  Nicholas 
here  spoken  of  was  Bishop  of  Tusculum,  later  Cardinal 
Nicholas  Chiaramonti,  of  whom  we  know  that  he  was  very 
friendly  to  the  Franciscans,  and  liked  to  have  one  of  them 
with  him.2  Perhaps  it  was  at  the  same  time  that  another 
Cardinal  paid  his  first  visit  to  the  Friars  Minor;  this  was 
^oehmer:  "Analekten,"  pp.  98-99.  2  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  83. 


MISSIONARY     JOURNEYS  165 

Cardinal  Hugolin  of  Ostia,  afterwards  a  friend  and  tireless 
protector  of  the  Order.  He  came  to  Portiuncula  —  as  we  are 
told  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  where  the  Brothers  were 
holding  a  conference  —  with  a  large  band  of  followers,  both 
clerks  and  soldiers.  But  when  he  saw  how  poorly  the  Broth- 
ers lived,  and  that  they  slept  upon  straw,  and  ate  from  the 
bare  earth,  he  was  so  overcome  that  he  broke  into  tears  and 
cried  out,  "How  will  it  go  with  us  who  live  so  luxuriously 
day  after  day  in  superfluity  and  delights?"  1 

It  is  certain  that  the  time  was  approaching  for  a  nearer 
relation  between  Francis  and  the  Papal  Court  to  be  estab- 
lished. The  road  from  Perugia,  where  the  Curia,  as  already 
said,  was  held  for  the  greater  part  of  the  summer  of  1216,2 
to  Portiuncula  is  not  long,  and  there  seem  to  have  been  recip- 
rocal visits.3  It  was  in  this  summer  that  the  majority  of  his 
biographers  are  unanimous  in  placing  one  of  the  most  con- 
tested affairs  in  the  life  of  Francis  of  Assisi  —  in  the  first 
days  of  the  pontificate  of  Honorius  III,  God's  poor  little 
man  from  Assisi  knelt  before  Christ's  Vicar  and  begged  for 
the  celebrated  Portiuncula  indulgence. 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  21. 

2  Potth.,  Reg.,  I,  nr.  5111  (May  20) —  nr.  5327  (August  12). 

3  A  single  authority  (Eccleston)  considers  that  Francis  was  present  at  In- 
nocent Ill's  death-bed  ("in  cujus  obitu  fuit  praesentialiter  S.  Franciscus ") . 
Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  253. 


CHAPTER  III 
TEE  PORTIUNCULA   INDULGENCE 

IT  is  first  of  all  necessary  to  observe  that  the  Church  of 
Rome,  previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  Portiuncula 
indulgence,  had  only  one  plenary  indulgence — the  one 
granted  to  those  who  took  up  the  Cross  and  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  Crusaders.  Every  one  who  did  this,  and  fulfilled 
the  requirements  of  confessing  his  sins  and  obtained  absolu- 
tion from  a  priest,  obtained  complete  remission  of  the  Church 
penances  as  well  as  of  the  punishment  of  Purgatory,  so  that 
his  soul  could  appear  before  God  directly  after  death. 

This  Indulgence  of  the  Crusade  —  Indulgentia  de  Terra 
Sancta  —  was  later  extended,  so  as  to  apply  to  anyone  who 
for  one  reason  or  another  did  not  personally  join  the  ranks 
of  the  Crusaders,  but  with  money  or  with  armed  men  sus- 
tained the  Holy  War.  It  was  also  the  Franciscans  —  some- 
thing which  in  this  connection  is  of  the  greatest  importance  — 
who  obtained  from  the  Pope  the  right  of  distributing  this 
indulgence,  extended  as  above  stated.1 

Whenever  the  Church  decreed  an  indulgence  in  other  cases 
—  as  on  the  consecration  of  a  church  —  it  was  done  in  a 
distinctively  different  form.  The  Lateran  Council  of  1215 
had  imposed  further  restrictions  on  this  custom.  On  the 
consecration  of  a  church  —  the  Council  decreed  —  an  indul- 
gence of  only  one  year  canonical  penance  should  be  granted, 
and  on  the  recurring  anniversaries  of  the  consecration  only 
one  of  forty  days.2  At  the  consecration  of  the  church  of 
St.  Francis  in  Assisi  there  was  granted  as  something  quite 
extraordinary  an  indulgence  of  three  years  to  all  who  had 

1  See,  for  example,  several  bulls  of  Clement  IV  of  the  year  1268  in  Sbaralea, 
Bull,  franc,  t.  Ill,  pp.  153  et  seq.,  p.  164. 
1  Mansi,  Cone,  coll.,  XXII,  1049  et  seq. 

166 


THE     PORTIUNCULA     INDULGENCE      167 

come  over  the  sea  to  take  part  in  the  festival,  and  of  two 
years  to  those  who  had  crossed  the  Alps,  while  the  ordinary 
pilgrim  had  to  be  content  with  the  usual  indulgence  of  one 
year. 1 

What  is  it  then,  that  Francis,  in  contrast  to  this,  tried  to 
get  from  the  Pope,  or  better,  did  obtain  from  him?  If  we 
give  credence  to  the  authorities,  he  presented  himself  one 
fine  day,  accompanied  by  Brother  Masseo  of  Marignano, 
before  Honorius  II  and  begged  for  the  Portiuncula  church 
the  same  indulgence  granted  to  the  Crusaders  in  the  Holy 
Lands.  "I  desire,"  he  is  said  to  have  announced  to  the 
Pope,  "that  every  one  who,  with  penitence  for  his  sins,  comes 
into  this  church  and  confesses  his  sins  and  is  absolved  by  the 
priest,  shall  be  free  from  all  guilt  and  punishment  for  the  sins 
of  his  life  from  the  day  of  his  baptism  to  the  day  when  he 
entered  the  said  church."  2  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Pope 
urged  that  the  Roman  Curia  was  not  accustomed  to  grant 
such  indulgences  to  any  church;  it  was  in  vain  that  he  offered 
to  Francis  one  of  the  ordinary  indulgences.  Francis  could 
not  be  moved,  as  he  declared  that  the  Lord  himself  had  sent 
him  in  order  to  obtain  this  indulgence.  Then  the  Pope 
suddenly,  as  if  by  the  divine  guidance,  yielded  the  point,  and 
now  it  remained  to  the  Cardinals  to  restrict  the  new  indul- 
gence, as  Honorius  depicted  the  injury  it  might  do  to  the  In- 
dulgence of  the  Crusade.  It  was  to  be  valid  for  only  one  day 
in  each  year,  from  the  vespers  of  the  evening  before  through 
the  full  twenty-four  hours  following  until  sunset.  Francis 
departed  contented,  and  when  the  Pope  asked  him  if  he  did 
not  want  a  written  authorization,  he  said  it  was  superfluous, 
for  "  God  will  know  how  to  bring  his  own  work  into  the  light." 

With  this  relation  for  a  foundation  a  group  of  legends  has 

1  Wadding,  1230,  n.  1.  Potth.,  I,  nr.  8556.  P.  A.  Kirsch  ("Theol.  Quartal- 
schrift, "  Tubingen,  1906:  "Der  Pontiuncula-Ablass,"  pp.  81  etseq.  and  pp.  231 
et  seq.)  gives  on  page  225,  note  1,  a  quantity  of  other  indications  of  the  status 
of  this  affair.  —  That  Gregory's  indulgence  was  regarded  as  a  very  great  proof 
of  favor  by  contemporaries  is  seen  in  Thomas  of  Celano's  words  (d'Alencon's 
ed.,  p.  445):  "Clarificat  (Gregorius)  etiam  locum  ejus  (i.e.  Ecclesiam  S.  Fran- 
cisci)  indulgentiis  et  remissionibus  plurimis,  per  quas  fides  et  devotio  populi 
quotidie  magis  accrescit." 

2  Leg.  tr.  soc.j  ed.  Da  Civezza-Dominichelli,  p.  157. 


168  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

been  built  up,  to  which  belongs  the  Rose-legend  depicted  by 
Overbeck  on  the  facade  of  the  Portiuncula  chapel.  These 
adornments  of  the  recital  first  appear  in  works  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  What  is  given  above  can  be  referred  to 
earlier  sources. 

At  the  first  glance  this  narration  seems  very  probable  in 
itself.  Every  biographer  of  Francis  tells  us  how  he  loved  his 
dear  Portiuncula,  and  we  also  know  how  zealous  he  was  for 
the  conversion  of  sinners.  He  once  saw  in  a  vision  how  men 
from  all  places  near  and  far  came  in  streams  around  the  little 
Portiuncula,1  and  one  of  his  disciples  had  a  similar  vision.2 

Again,  the  dislike  of  documents  is  a  characteristic  of  Fran- 
cis. In  1210  he  was  satisfied  with  the  verbal  ratification  of 
Innocent  III,  and  at  the  Lateran  Council  he  got  nothing  more. 
When  Orlando  dei  Cattani  gave  him  La  Verna,  this  too  was 
done  "  without  any  writing,"  as  it  is  explicitly  stated  in  the 
letter  of  gifts  of  the  young  Count  Cattani  in  1274.  In  his 
testament  Francis  forbids  most  definitely  his  Brothers  to 
seek  written  privileges  from  the  Curia,  "  whether  for  a  church 
or  for  any  other  place."  3  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  such  an 
answer  as  Francis  gave  to  Honorius,  according  to  the  old 
story,  is  quite  in  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis.4 

It  is  quite  another  question  if  Francis  really  gave  this 
answer;  in  other  words,  if  such  an  interview  ever  took 
place. 

First  and  foremost,  we  must  here  remark  that  none  of  the 
undoubtedly  authentic  authorities  of  the  thirteenth  century 
contain  a  single  reference  to  the  Portiuncula  indulgence. 
Thomas  of  Celano  knows  the  indulgence  which  Gregory  IX 
granted  to  the  church  of  St.  Francis  in  Assisi,  but  neither  he 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  XI,  n.  27. 

2  Leg.  tr.  soc,  XIII,  56. 

3  Opusc.  (Quaracchi),  p.  80. 

4  On  the  other  hand,  the  boldness  with  which  Francis  here  appears  before 
Honorius  accords  only  poorly  with  his  humble  words  to  the  same  Pope,  when 
he  later  through  Cardinal  Hugolin  obtained  an  audience  with  him.  "Magnus 
timor,"  were  the  words  used  here,  "et  vericundia  debet  esse  nobis,  qui  sumus 
magis  pauperes  et  despecti  ceteris  religiosis,  non  solum  ingredi  ad  vos,  sed 
etiam  stare  ante  ostium  vestrum  et  praesumere  pulsare  tabernaculum  virtutis 
christianorum."  Tres  Socii,  c.  XVI  (Amoni's  ed.),  p.  92.  Compare  Cel.,  V. 
pr.,  I,  cap.  XXVII,  n.  75. 


THE     PORTIUNCULA     INDULGENCE      169 

nor  the  old  biographers  of  St.  Francis  have  the  least  inkling 
of  the  existence  of  the  Portiuncula  indulgence.  It  is  only 
much  more  recent  authorities  who  assert  that  this  indulgence 
could  be  gained  every  year  since  12 16,  on  days  appointed  by 
Honorius  III,  namely,  from  the  evening  of  August  1  to  the 
evening  of  the  second.  This  remarkable  silence  of  the  official 
biographers  may  be  regarded  as  the  sequence  of  the  non- 
existing  Papal  bull,  or  as  a  result  of  the  opposition  of  Elias  of 
Cortona  and  of  his  party  to  the  " Portiuncula  men"  —  the 
strict  division  of  the  Order.  The  biographers  in  question 
had  to  serve  the  party  in  power. 

If  this  was  the  correct  conclusion,  on  the  other  hand  we 
should  expect  to  find  the  Portiuncula  indulgence  in  the  place 
of  honor  in  the  legend  originating  in  the  ranks  of  the  strict 
division  —  as  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  or  in  the  Fioretti. 
But  it  is  in  vain  that  one  looks  even'  here  for  a  trace  of  the 
legend  given  above. 

The  tradition  of  the  indulgence  naturally  can  be  referred, 
if  not  in  the  direct,  then  in  the  secondary  line  to  Brother 
Leo  and  the  other  intimate  friends  of  St.  Francis.  And  in 
the  first  rank  stands  the  testimony  taken  in  the  presence  of 
numerous  witnesses  on  October  31,  1277,  and  signed  by  a 
notary  public  in  Arezzo,  as  given  by  two  Franciscans,  Brother 
Benedict  of  Arezzo,  "who  formerly  was  with  St.  Francis, 
when  he  still  lived,"  and  Brother  Rayner  of  Arezzo,  who  de- 
clared himself  a  confidential  friend  of  Brother  Masseo  from 
Marignano.  In  this  document  the  two  Franciscans  testify 
that  they  had  heard  from  Brother  Masseo,  who  was  "the 
truth  itself,"  how  he  and  Francis  went  together  to  Perugia 
and  obtained  from  Pope  Honorius  the  above  described  indul- 
gence, "although  the  Pope  said  that  the  Apostolic  throne 
was  not  wont  to  give  such  an  indulgence." 

The  recital  is  very  short,  and  the  document  is  provided  with 
a  date  which  is  quite  complete  and  in  all  particulars  correct.1 

luIn  anno  Domini  MCCLXXVII,  nemine  imperante,  Papa  in  ecclesia  ro- 
mana  vacante."  Rudolph  of  Hapsburgh  had  been  elected  in  1273,  but  was 
not  crowned  in  1277.  The  Papal  throne  was  vacant  from  May  20  to  November 
25,  1277,  and  the  document  is  dated  October  31.  M.  Paulus:  Die  Bewilli- 
gung  des  Portiuncula- Ablasses  in  uDer  Katholik,"  1899,  p.  193. 


170  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

The  original  is  no  longer  in  existence;  Sabatier  maintains 
that  one  of  the  copies  now  in  Assisi  dates  from  the  end  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 

Various  other  recitals  of  the  same  period  rest  upon  the 
testimony  of  Brother  Masseo  through  the  intermediary  of 
Brother  Benedict  of  Arezzo.  Sabatier  has  inserted  them  in 
his  edition  of  Francesco  Bartholi's  book  on  the  Portiuncula 
indulgence  of  about  1435;  but  if  they  originate  with  Brother 
John  of  La  Verna  or  with  Brother  Otto  of  Aquasparta,  they 
contain  nothing  new.  It  is  only  a  new  appearance  of  the 
original  source  —  Masseo-Benedict  —  which  we  find  in  vari- 
ous places.  That  an  old  man,  Pietro  Zalfani,  in  his  youth 
claims  to  have  been  present  at  the  consecration  of  the  Porti- 
uncula church,  and  that  he  says  that  he  there  saw  Francis 
standing  "with  a  paper  in  his  hand,"  amounts  to  but  little. 

Another  group  of  witnesses  of  about  the  same  time  depend 
upon  Brother  Leo  instead  of  Brother  Masseo.  A  nobleman 
of  Perugia,  Jacopo  Coppoli,  who  on  February  14,  1276  gave 
the  Perugian  Franciscans  the  hill  on  which  their  old  con- 
vent Monte  Ripido  stands,  testifies  at  about  this  same  time, 
and  in  a  similar  form  to  that  of  Brother  Benedict  of  Arezzo, 
that  he  had  heard  Brother  Leo  tell  about  the  Portiuncula 
indulgence.  In  the  narration  of  Coppoli  the  Pope  offers  to 
Francis  an  indulgence  of  seven  years,  without  satisfying  him. 
He  then  offered  the  indulgence  de  terra  sancta,  but  the  Cardinals 
caused  him  to  limit  it.  After  Francis  had  told  this  to  Brother 
Leo,  he  told  him  to  say  nothing  of  the  indulgence  for  the 
present,  "for  this  indulgence  shall  remain  hidden  for  a  while, 
the  Lord  will  in  good  time  bring  it  out  and  reveal  it." 

Wadding  places,  and  certainly  correctly,  this  testimony  in 
the  year  1277.1  This  was  two  generations  after  the  granting 
of  the  indulgence.  It  is  clear  that  within  the  Order,  or  rather 
within  its  stricter  party,  to  which  Benedict  of  Arezzo  belonged, 
the  effort  was  made,  first  as  strongly  as  possible  to  prove 
the  existence  of  the  Portiuncula  indulgence,  and  secondly  to 
explain  why  the  indulgence  was  not  announced  sooner.  For 
this  reason  Brother  Benedict  had  his  testimony  affirmed  by 
a  notary,  and  Jacob  Coppoli's  testimony  was  given  in  the 

1  Note  under  1277,  n.  18. 


THE  PORTIUNCULA  INDULGENCE   171 

presence  of  numerous  witnesses  before  the  provincial  minister 
for  Umbria,  Brother  Angelo  (12 70-1 280). l 

It  was  also  about  this  time,  or  a  little  earlier,  that  Brother 
Francis  of  Fabriano  obtained  himself  the  Portiuncula  indul- 
gence, and  he  tells  also  that  he  received  from  Brother  Leo 
the  tale  of  how  Francis  obtained  it  from  the  Pope.2  It  is 
definitely  certain  that  Francis  of  Fabriano  wrote  the  work 
to  which  we  refer,  in  his  latter  years,  for  he  quotes  a  docu- 
ment which  at  the  earliest  may  be  of  13 10.  Brother  Francis, 
who  was  born  in  1251  and  died  in  1322,  was  sixty  or  seventy 
years  old  when  he  put  down  his  reminiscences.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  Francis  of  Fabriano  was  in  Portiuncula 
in  the  year  referred  to.  We  cannot  set  aside  the  explanation, 
that  in  his  advanced  age  he  may  have  had  the  indulgence  as 
the  object  of  his  pilgrimage.  From  the  beginning  many 
Franciscans  made  the  pilgrimage  to  the  grave  of  their  spiritual 
father  and  to  Portiuncula,  and  in  this  connection  it  is  of 
the  greatest  significance  that  Pope  Nicholas  IV  —  himself  a 
Franciscan  —  speaks  in  a  letter  of  May  14,  1284  of  "the 
numerous  crowd  of  Brothers"  who  streamed  to  Assisi,  but 
never  names  the  Portiuncula  indulgence  as  the  reason  of 
their  going.  According  to  this  Pope  the  church  of  San  Fran- 
cesco containing  the  saint's  tomb,  as  well  as  the  Portiuncula 
chapel,  were  the  objects  of  pilgrimage,  and  not  the  indul- 
gence, all  being  done  "to  honor  the  saint." 

This  accords  with  the  fact  that  Angela  of  Foligno  (1248- 
1309),  soon  after  she  entered  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis, 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  Assisi,  but  on  this  occasion  never  speaks 
of  Portiuncula,  but  tells  of  two  visits  to  the  memorial  church 
of  San  Francesco.  And  she  is  known  to  have  been  of  the 
strict  observance;  the  great  chief  of  this  party,  Hubert  of 
Casale,  visited  her  shortly  before  her  death  and  speaks  of  her 
in  the  prologue  to  his  Arbor  vitae  with  the  greatest  reverence. 
Naturally  Angela's  visit  to  Assisi  may  have  fallen  in  a  time 
of  the  year  when  the  indulgence  was  not  to  be  obtained;  she 
may  not  have  been  there  on  the  first  or  second  day  of  August. 
Still  it  is  strange  that  she  never  says  a  word  about  Portiuncula. 

1  Coll.,  II,  p.  52. 

2  Franz  von  Fabriano's  Testimony  in  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  89. 


172  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Everything  indicates  that  the  Portiuncula  indulgence  first 
began  to  be  known  only  in  the  last  quarter  (in  the  last  third 
if  we  accept  Francis  of  Fabriano's  words)  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  If  it  were  allowable  to  apply  modern  conceptions 
to  the  ways  of  those  days,  we  might  be  tempted  to  place  the 
origin  of  the  indulgence  at  the  50-year  jubilee  of  the  granting 
of  the  indulgence  (12 12-1262).  (Francis  of  Fabriano's  visit 
was  made  in  1268.)  It  is  certain,  that  as  soon  as  the  indul- 
gence became  known  it  awakened  opposition  —  hence  the 
notarial  declarations  of  Benedict  of  Arezzo,  Rainer,  Coppoli, 
Zalfani.  Even  the  great  leader  of  the  strict  Franciscan 
observance,  Peter  John  Olivi  (1 248-1 298),  took  up  the  ques- 
tion of  the  indulgence.  In  a  small  —  unfortunately  undated 
■ — pamphlet  he  strives  to  uphold  its  authenticity,  first  on 
dogmatic  and  then  on  historic  grounds.  Unfortunately  the 
historic  portion  is  lost. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  in  this  dispute  several 
Catholic  investigators  doubted  or  even  denied  the  origin  of 
the  indulgence  to  have  been  with  St.  Francis,  so  inadequately 
is  it  proved.  Even  the  author  of  this  book  was  once  of  the 
same  opinion,  and  so  expressed  himself  in  the  first  edition  of 
the  same.  According  to  my  views  at  that  time  the  Portiun- 
cula indulgence  was  only  a  localized  indulgence  de  terra  sancta 
or  Crusaders'  indulgence.  Thus  when  the  Holy  Land  was 
lost  (St.  Jean  d'Acre  fell  1291,  being  the  last  stronghold  of 
the  Christians)  the  Indulgence  of  the  Crusade,  which  the 
Pope  had  permitted  the  Franciscans  to  share,  could  only  be 
obtained  in  Portiuncula.  It  was  natural  that  the  second 
of  August  should  be  chosen  as  the  day  for  gaining  the  indul- 
gence, as  this  was  the  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the 
church.  Such  a  choice  was  not  un- Franciscan.  On  August 
1  is  celebrated  the  festival  of  "St.  Peter's  Chains."  Francis 
of  Assisi's  reverence  for  the  saint  was  well  known.  And  in 
the  mass  of  this  day  in  the  collect  is  this  passage:  " O  God  Who 
didst  let  the  blessed  Peter  the  Apostle  depart  free  and  unin- 
jured from  his  bonds,  we  beg  Thee  to  free  us  from  the  bonds  of 
our  sins." 

In  the  little  Portiuncula  chapel,  the  new  terra  sancta,  the 
Franciscans  by  virtue  of  the  authorization  already  obtained 


THE     PORTIUNCULA     INDULGENCE      173 

shared  on  these  days  the  same  plenary  indulgence  which 
formerly  belonged  to  the  Crusaders,  and  led  penitent  pilgrims 
out  of  the  valley  of  sin  and  punishment  into  the  holy  land  of 
innocence. 

In  the  four  years  which  have  passed  since  this  chapter  in 
my  book  was  written,  a  most  meritorious  investigator  of 
Franciscan  history,  Rev.  Heribert  Holzapfel  in  Munich,  has 
developed  new  view-points  for  the  consideration  of  this 
question.1  Father  Holzapfel  agrees  that  in  the  lifetime  of 
St.  Francis  the  indulgence  in  question  was  little  known  and 
little  used.  "It  must  impress  us,"  he  writes,  "that  all  later 
authorities  .  .  .  only  mention  the  fact  that  the  indulgence 
was  secured  by  St.  Francis,  but  never  say  that  it  was  much 
frequented  either  in  the  lifetime  of  the  saint  nor  during  the 
first  decade  following  his  death.  Some  causes  must  then  have 
been  operative  which,  in  the  beginning  at  least,  hindered  the 
dissemination  of  the  indulgence.  In  seeking  these  causes  we 
are  driven  into  the  region  of  conjecture.  I  may  be  permitted 
to  suggest  the  following  solution  for  discussion. 

"The  Pope  conceded  the  indulgence  only  after  long  persua- 
sion. As  we  learn  from  later  authorities,  the  Cardinals  were 
decided  enemies  of  the  proposition,  as  were  the  Bishops  of  the 
vicinity"  (i.e.,  in  Assisi,  Foligno,  Perugia,  Gubbio,  etc.). 
"These  Bishops,"  says  Father  Holzapfel,. " did  not  wish  such 
an  extraordinary  demonstration  of  favor  for  the  insignificant 
Portiuncula  chapel  and  expressed  themselves  to  St.  Francis 
on  the  subject  in  various  ways,  —  and  the  more  as  they  doubt- 
less knew  the  feeling  of  the  Curia."  It  would  be  in  exact 
accord  with  the  spirit  of  St.  Francis  that  he  would  remain 
silent  from  his  reverence  for  the  priesthood.  His  was  no 
combative  nature,  and  here  as  in  other  instances  yielded. 
"That  he  did  it  willingly  we  do  not  assert;  it  may  have  hurt 
him,  like  many  another  thing  that  he  had  to  yield  to  and 
could  not  change.  He  will  have  spoken  also  of  the  disap- 
pointment with  his  trusted  companions.  .  .  .  He  will  have 
comforted  himself  with  the  prospects  of  a  better  future  and 
have  exhorted  them  for  the  present  to  practise  patient  sub- 

1  "Die  Entstehung  des  Portiuncula- Ablasses,"  Archivum  Franciscanum  His- 
toricum,  I,  Quaracchi,  1908,  pp.  31-44. 


174  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

mission.  This  does  not  exclude  the  possibility  that  the  few 
Friars  sharing  his  knowledge  or  similar  people  in  the  world 
may  have  used  the  indulgence  as  granted,  only  we  must 
not  think  of  a  wide  dissemination  of  it.  The  circle  of  those 
knowing  of  it  would  grow  with  time  and  consequently  the 
frequentation  of  the  indulgence,  but  also  the  opposition  of  its 
enemies.  Then  the  Friars  who  were  still  living  felt  it  their 
duty  to  leave  authentic  proof  of  what  they  knew  so  well. 
They  need  fear  no  longer  the  enmity  of  the  Curia,  which  was 
very  friendly  to  the  Order,  nor  the  enmity  of  the  Bishops,  at 
least  not  of  the  directly  interested  Bishops  of  Assisi,  who  for 
some  time  had  been  Franciscans.1 

This  hypothesis  explains  the  silence  of  the  biographers. 
If,  moreover,  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  which  was  written 
in  the  year  131 8,  when  the  indulgence  was  perfectly  known 
on  all  sides,  never  mentions  it,  why  should  the  silence  of  the 
earlier  biographers  prove  anything  against  the  existence  of 
the  indulgence  at  the  period  when  they  wrote? 

As  in  so  many  other  questions  of  Franciscan  investigation, 
we  here  have  to  refer  to  approved  authorities  of  the  olden 
times. 

1  A.  a.  O.,  pp.  43-44.  Compare  Lemmens  in  "Der  Katholik,"  March  and 
April,  1908:  "Die  altesten  Zeugnisse  fur  den  Portiuncula-Ablass" 


CHAPTER  IV 
CHAPTERS   AND   PROVINCES 

THE  community  of  Brothers,  which  Francis  of  Assisi 
had  founded,  was  from  the  very  first  an  order  of  peni- 
tents and  apostles,1  and  Francis  himself  was  the  Su- 
perior of  the  Order.  He  it  was  who  had  written  the 
Rules  of  the  Order  and  had  promised  obedience  to  the  Pope, 
he  it  was  to  whom  the  permission  to  preach  was  given,  and 
through  whom  the  others  participated  therein.  It  is  certain 
that  the  first  six  Brothers  had  the  same  right  as  Francis  to 
receive  new  members  into  the  Order,  but  the  new  members 
were  taken  to  Portiuncula,  there  to  receive  the  robe  of  peni- 
tence from  Francis  himself.2  This  reception  into  the  Brother- 
hood was  regarded  as  equivalent  in  weight  to  the  old-time 
conversio  of  the  orders  of  monkhood  —  by  it  one  left  the 
world  with  its  pomp  and  glory.3  As  a  sign  of  this  the  suppli- 
cant gave  his  possessions  to  the  poor. 

Again,  from  the  very  first,  Francis  had  liked  to  have  his 
Brothers  about  him  as  much  as  possible.  When  the  first 
disciples  were  sent  out  on  their  mission  journeys,  he  had 
accordingly  arranged  a  time  (statuto  termino)  when  they  should 
all  again  meet  at  Portiuncula.4  Later  there  were  arranged 
once  for  all  two  such  terms  in  the  year,  when  all  the  Brothers 

1  "viri  poenitentes  de  Assisio"  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  X).  "Accedat  f rater  Salo- 
mon de  Ordine  Apostolorum "  (Eccleston  in  Anal.  Franc.,  I,  p.  222). 

2  Tres  Socii,  XI,  41.     Anon.  Perus.,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  600,  n.  201. 
'"saeculo  nequam  cum  pompis  suis  penitus  derelicto  intra vit  religionem." 

Tres  Socii,  XIII,  56.  This  is  in  entire  disagreement  with  the  theory  of  Karl 
Miiller,  Sabatier  and  Mandonnet  making  the  origin  of  the  Franciscan  Order  a 
brotherhood  essentially  from  the  Orders  of  the  Church,  of  which  they  would 
call  the  so-called  "Third  Order"  a  relic.  See  W.  Gotz:  "Die  urspriinglichen 
Ideate  des  hi.  Franz,"  "Hist.  Vierteljahrschrift,"  VI  (1903),  pp.  19-50. 
*  Tres  Socii,  XI,  41. 

175 


176  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

should  meet  at  Portiuncula  —  at  Pentecost  and  on  the  feast 
of  St.  Michael  (September  29)  .l 

Of  these  two  meetings  —  or,  as  they  were  called,  using  an 
expression  from  the  older  days  of  convent  life,  Chapters  — 
Pentecost  Chapter  was  the  most  important.  "Then  all  the 
Brothers  came  together  and  discussed  how  best  they  should 
maintain  the  Rule."  They  held  a  feast  in  frugality  and  joy, 
after  which  Francis  preached.  His  Admonitiones  or  Admoni- 
tions, which  will  be  spoken  of  later,  evidently  originated  at 
these  Chapter-meetings.  They  explained  perhaps  a  text 
from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  or  sentences  such  as,  "For  he 
that  will  save  his  life,  shall  lose  it,"  "I  am  not  here  to  be 
served  but  to  serve,"  he  who  "doth  not  renounce  all  that  he 
possesseth  cannot  be  my  disciple."  Most  often  and  most  will- 
ingly he  spoke  on  his  favorite  theme — reverence  for  the  sac- 
rament of  the  altar,  and  the  reverence  for  priests  which  flows 
from  it.  Sometimes  he  would  have  the  Brothers  kiss  the  head 
of  the  horse  a  priest  rode  on.  "And  always  have  peace  in 
your  hearts,  you  who  come  to  bring  others  peace."  If  there- 
fore any  disciple  felt  disturbed  by  temptations,  he  went  to 
the  Master  and  took  him  into  his  confidence,  and  none  went 
away  uncomforted. 

To  the  last  Francis  undertook  the  choosing  of  preachers 
whom  he  afterwards  sent  to  the  various  mission-districts  or 
Provinces,  as  the  expression  became  later.  In  this  choosing 
he  was  led  only  by  considerations  of  the  fitness  of  the  one 
recommended,  and  sent  out  Lay-brothers  as  willingly  as 
priests.  With  all  his  overflowing  fatherly  heart  he  finally 
blessed  them  all,  and  two  and  two  they  went  off  gladly  into 
the  world,  "like  strangers  and  like  pilgrims,"  without  other 
burden  than  the  books  they  needed  to  say  their  Office  out  of.2 

Francis'  always  strongly  personal  preaching  at  these  meet- 
ings often  approached  the  poetical.  This  passage  from  one 
of    his    admonitions    unmistakably    recalling     the    church 

1  Tres  Socii,  XIV,  57.  We  cannot  be  surprised  that  Jacques  de  Vitry  only- 
mentions  one  Chapter  assembly;  he  only  knew  the  Order  from  a  visit  of  short 
duration.     The  Pentecost  Chapter  was,  moreover,  the  principal  one. 

2  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XIV.  Wadding  states  (1216,  n.  1)  that  Francis  held  the 
first  Chapter  in  imitation  of  the  great  Lateran  Council  (1215). 


CHAPTERS  AND  PROVINCES      177 

Maundy  Thursday  hymn,  Ubi  charitas  et  amor,  Deus  ibi  est, 
may  in  this  connection  be  cited  here : 

"  Where  charity  is  and  wisdom  is,  is  neither  fear  nor  igno- 
rance. Where  patience  is  and  humility  is,  is  neither  unquiet 
nor  anger.  Where  poverty  is  and  joy  is,  is  neither  cupidity 
nor  covetousness.  Where  the  fear  of  the  Lord  stands  at  the 
door,  the  evil  enemy  cannot  enter.  Where  compassion  is 
and  prudence  is,  is  neither  waste  nor  hardness  of  heart."1 

Like  all  model  Christians  Francis  turned  with  special 
devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  Mother  of  God,  Mary. 
And  troubadour  as  he  was,  he  sang  one  of  his  most  beautiful 
lauds  in  praise  of  all  the  virtues  "with  which  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  adorned,  and  which  should  be  the  ornaments  of 
all  holy  souls'':2 

"Hail,  Queen  Wisdom,"  he  cries,  "the  Lord  save  thee  with 
thy  sister  holy  pure  simplicity.  Lady  holy  poverty,  the 
Lord  save  thee  with  thy  sister  holy  humility,  the  Lord  save 
thee  with  thy  sister  holy  obedience.  All  you  most  holy 
virtues,  may  the  Lord  from  whom  you  proceed  and  come  save 
you.  .  .  .  Holy  wisdom  confounds  Satan  and  all  his  wicked- 
nesses. Pure  holy  simplicity  confounds  all  the  wisdom  of 
this  world  and  the  wisdom  of  the  flesh.  Holy  poverty  con- 
founds all  cupidity  and  avarice  and  the  cares  of  this  world. 
Holy  humility  confounds  pride  and  all  men  of  this  world  and 
all  things  which  are  in  the  world.  Holy  charity  confounds 
all  diabolical  and  carnal  temptations  and  all  carnal  fears. 
Holy  obedience  confounds  all  corporal  and  carnal  wishes  and 
keeps  the  body  mortified  to  the  obedience  of  the  spirit  and  to 
the  obedience  of  its  brother  and  makes  man  subject  to  all 
men  of  this  world,  and  not  only  to  men,  but  even  to  all  ani- 
mals and  beasts  .  .  ." 

From  this  praise  of  all  virtues,  which  inevitably  reminds 
one  of  Giotto's  exaltation  of  "the  holy  obedience,"  "the 
holy  chastity,"  and  "the  holy  poverty"  in  the  frescoes  over 
the  grave  of  St.  Francis  in  Assisi,  the  poet  takes  his  flight  up 
to  the  throne  of  the  purest  Virgin: 

1  Admonitio  XXVII. 

2"De  virtutibus  quibus  decorata  fuit  Sancta  Virgo  et  debet  esse  sancta 
anima"  (Opuscula,  p.  21  +  p.  123.     Boehmer's  " Analekten"  p.  165  +  p.  70). 
13 


178  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

"Hail  Holy  Lady,  Most  Holy  Queen,  Mary  Mother  of  God, 
who  art  a  Virgin  for  ever,  chosen  from  heaven  by  the  most 
holy  Father,  whom  He  consecrated  with  the  most  holy  beloved 
Son  and  the  Paraclete  Spirit,  in  whom  was  and  is  all  plenitude 
of  grace  and  all  good.  Hail  His  palace.  Hail  His  tabernacle. 
Hail  His  house.  Hail  His  vesture.  Hail  His  handmaid.  Hail 
His  mother  and  all  you  holy  virtues,  which  by  grace  and 
illumination  of  the  Holy  Ghost  may  you  pour  into  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful,  and  may  you  make  out  of  the  faithless  ones 
men  faithful  to  God." 

After  having  ended  such  a  song  of  praise  to  Mary,  taken  as 
the  Christian  ideal,  it  may  have  been  that  Francis  cried  out: 

"We  Friars  Minor,  what  are  we  other  than  God's  singers 
and  players,  who  seek  to  draw  hearts  upwards  and  to  fill 
them  with  spiritual  joy? ,n  To  play  good  people  into  heaven, 
to  sing  before  every  one's  door  about  the  beauty  and  delight 
of  serving  the  Lord  —  this  Francis  had  tried  personally  in 
Assisi,  and  he  assigned  the  same  troubadour's  ways  to  his 
Brothers.  "Do  you  not  know,  dearest  Brother,"  he  asked 
Brother  Giles,  "that  holy  contrition  and  holy  humility  and 
holy  charity  and  holy  joy  make  the  soul  good  and  happy?"2 
There  were  many  who  in  St.  Francis  of  Assisi's  time  did  not 
know  this,  and  therefore  God's  singers,  joculatores  Dei,  went 
out  into  the  world  to  sing  this  into  the  hearts  of  men. 

From  the  beginning  the  chapter-meetings  were  thus  practi- 
cally gatherings  for  mutual  edification.  The  Order  had  no 
other  organization  —  and  what  was  there  to  organize?  "  They 
carry  neither  purse  nor  bag  with  them  on  their  way,  neither 
bread  nor  money  in  their  belt  not  shoes  on  their  feet.  .  .  . 
They  have  no  churches,  no  convents,  no  fields,  nor  vineyards 
nor  animals  nor  houses  nor  property  nor  where  they  can  harbor 
their  heads.  They  use  neither  fur  nor  linen,  but  only  woollen 
habits  with  hoods,  neither  cap  nor  cape  nor  over-garment 
nor  any  other  raiment.     If  anyone  asks  them  to  a  meal  they 

1  "Quid  enim  sunt  servi  Dei,  nisi  quidam  joculatores  ejus,  qui  corda  homi- 
num  erigere  debent  et  movere  ad  laetitiam  spiritualem?  "  "Et  specialiter  hoc 
dicebat  de  fratribus  minoribus  qui  dati  sunt  populo  Dei  pro  ejus  salute. "  Spec. 
perf..,  cap.  100. 

*  Dicta  b.  Aegidii  (Quaracchi,  1905),  p.  5.  Dottrina  di  Frate  Egidio,  cap.  I. 


CHAPTERS  AND  PROVINCES      179 

eat  and  drink  what  is  set  before  them.  If  anything  is  given 
them  for  pity,  nothing  is  kept  for  the  next  day.  .  .  .  And 
not  only  by  their  words,  but  by  their  holy  life  and  perfect 
way  of  life  they  draw  many  of  all  classes  to  despise  the  world, 
to  leave  house  and  home  and  great  possessions  and  put  on  the 
habit  of  the  Friars  Minor,  which  is  a  plain  tunic  and  a  rope 
around  the  waist."1 

For  men  who  lived  thus,  many  laws  and  regulations  were 
not  necessary.  Do  the  larks  need  more  than  a  drink  of 
water  out  of  the  spring  and  the  food  they  can  gather  in  the 
fields,  to  again  fly  up  into  the  sky  and  sing  the  praise  of  God 
so  exultingly  that  all  must  stop  and  look  upwards?  "There- 
fore Brother  Francis  loved  also  above  all  birds  the  bird  which 
in  everyday  language  is  called  the  crested  lark,  and  he  said  of 
it:  i Sister  lark  has  a  hood  like  us  and  is  an  humble  bird,  for 
it  goes  willingly  along  the  wayside  and  finds  a  grain  of  corn 
for  itself.  ...  Its  plumage  is  of  the  same  color  as  the  earth 
and  is  an  example  to  us  that  we  shall  not  have  fine  and  colored 
clothes,  but  simple  and  plain.  .  .  .  But  when  they  fly  upwards 
they  praise  God  so  devoutly,  like  good  Brothers  of  our  Order, 
whose  life  is  in  the  heavens,  and  whose  pleasure  is  always  in 
glorifying  God.'"2 

This  happy  unconfined  bird-life  could  not  be  for  ever. 
More  and  more  joined  the  Brotherhood.  And  not  only 
young  men  came  to  them,  but  women  too,  married  and  unmar- 
ried, even  married  men  came.  It  was  possible  to  help  the 
young  unmarried  women;  they  were  told  to  enter  a  convent, 
and  one  of  the  Brothers  undertook  temporarily  to  guide  them 
and  help  them.  But  old  married  men  came  and  said:  "We 
have  wives  from  whom  we  cannot  separate!  Teach  us  how 
to  live!"  And  they  too  must  be  looked  after  —  but  in  what 
way?3 

Jacques  de  Vitry:  Hist,  orient.,  II,  cap.  32  (Boehmer:  "Analekten"  pp. 
103-104). 

2  Spec.  Perf.,  cap.  113. 

3  Anon.  Perus.:  "Multaemulieres,  virgines  etiam  non habentes  viros, audientes 
prasdicationem  eorum,  veniebant  corde  compuncto  ad  eos  dicentes:  Quid 
faciemus  autem  nos?  Vobiscum  esse  non  possumus.  Dicite  ergo  nobis,  quo- 
modo  salvare  nostras  animas  valeamus.  Ad  hoc  ordinaverunt  per  singulas 
civitates,  quibus  potuerant,  monasteria  reclusa  ad  poenitentiam  faciendam. 


l8o  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

The  movement  Francis  had  awakened  bid  fair  to  mount 
over  his  head.  He  did  not  like  his  Brothers  to  have  the  super- 
intendence of  nuns —  "I  am  afraid  the  devil  will  give  us 
Sisters  around  our  necks  in  place  of  the  wives  we  have  given 
up  for  the  sake  of  God,"  he  may  have  said.1  And  in  Cannara 
he  himself  had  to  restrain  his  hearers'  zeal  —  all  wished  to 
follow  him,  men  and  women,  married  and  unmarried,  the  whole 
population  of  the  village.  "Be  not  too  hasty,"  he  advised 
them,  "I  will  think  over  what  I  can  advise  you  for  your 
salvation."2 

The  progress  of  the  Order  brought  great  difficulties  with  it. 
Francis  on  the  one  hand  could  only  rejoice  at  the  numbers  of 
his  army,  but  on  the  other  hand  he  had  no  place  to  harbor 
them  in.  His  net,  like  that  of  the  Apostles,  was  ready  to 
tear  under  the  too  rich  draught  of  fishes. 

The  rules  of  the  Order,  he  in  his  time  "with  few  and  simple 
words"  had  written,  would  answer  for  wandering  evangelists 
and  musicians,  but  would  not  suffice  for  nuns  and  still  less 
for  married  people.  A  flock  of  larks  Francis  would  willingly 
undertake  to  guide  or  to  lead  —  the  wild  birds  always  gladly 
obeyed  him!  But  men  in  the  ranks  of  citizens,  and  maidens 
longing  for  the  convent  life,  tame,  useful  beings  and  mystic 
doves,  that  cooed  in  the  mountain  clefts  of  Tabor  or  of  Carmel 
—  how  should  he,  simplex  et  idiota,  "the  simple  and  foolish," 
give  them  rules  of  life  or  laws? 

Involuntarily  Francis  looked  for  a  helping  hand.  It  was 
nearer  to  him  than  he  thought  —  it  was  stretched  out,  white, 
well-kept  and  strong,  adorned  with  the  bishop's  amethyst 
ring,  stretched  out  to  his  help  by  the  nephew  of  Innocent  III, 
the  Bishop  of  Ostia  and  Velletri,  Cardinal  Hugolin. 

Constituerunt  autem  unum  de  fratribus,  qui  esset  visitator  et  corrector  eorum. 
Similiter  et  viri  uxores  habentes  dicebant:  uxores  habemus,  quae  dimitti  se 
non  patiuntur.  Docete  ergo  nos,  quam  viam  tenere  salubriter  valeamus." 
A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  600,  n.  291. 

1  Wadd.,  1219,  n.  45.  Compare  Reg.  sec.,  cap.  XI:  "Quod  fratres  non 
ingrediantur  monasteria  monacharum." 

2  Actus,  cap.  XVI,  vv.  15-16. 


CHAPTER  V 
CARDINAL   HUGOLIN 

HUGO  or  Hugolin,  Count  of  Anagni,  was  when  Francis 
first  knew  him  a  man  of  nearly  seventy  years, 
and  of  awe-inspiring  and  engaging  appearance. 
He  possessed  all  the  highest  polish  of  the  day,  had 
studied  in  Bologna  and  Paris,  and  was  also  characterized  by 
an  upright  piety.  His  two  principal  interests  were  the  free- 
dom of  the  Church  and  the  promotion  of  the  cloister  life.  In 
1 1 88  he  had,  with  danger  of  his  life,  defended  the  cause  of  the 
Church  against  the  usurper  Markwald  (see  page  22),  and 
he  stood  in  close  and  permanent  relations  with  the  Camaldo- 
lites,  the  monks  of  Cluny,  the  congregation  of  St.  Flore  (for 
whom  he  built  two  new  convents),  and  also  later  with  the 
Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans.  In  his  native  land,  Anagni, 
he  founded  a  poor-house  with  church  annexed  thereto,  and  in 
October,  12 16,  gave  it  over  to  the  Hospital  Brothers  from 
Altopascio  in  Tuscany.1  In  1198  he  was  Papal  Chaplain  as 
well  as  Cardinal-deacon  with  the  titular  church  of  St.  Eus- 
tachio.  In  May,  1206,  he  was  nominated  to  the  bishopric  of 
Ostia  and  Velletri,  the  highest  position  in  the  Church  next  to 
Pope.  It  was  not  necessary  to  possess  the  power  of  a  seer  to 
see  in  him  the  coming  Pope,2  as  it  is  said  Francis  did.  Also 
as  Gregory  IX,  Hugolin  continued  to  be  a  true  friend  and 
benefactor  of  the  religious  orders  —  among  other  things  he 
founded  with  his  own  means  a  Franciscan  convent  in  Viterbo 
and  a  convent  for  the  poor  Clares  in  Rome  (San  Cosmiato). 
In  Lombardy  too  and  in  Tuscany  several  convents  owe  their 

1  Joseph  Felten:  " Pdbst  GregorIX"  (Freib.  i  Bres.,  1886),  pp.  16-19.  Gotz  in 
"Hist.  Vierteljahrsschrift,"  VI  (1903),  p.  43.  Achille  Luchaire:  Innocent  III 
et  Vltalie  (Paris,   1905),  passim. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  pr.,  I,  V,  n.  100. 

181 


182  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

existence  to  him.1  To  this  man  it  fell  —  as  his  biographer 
puts  it — "to  find  the  Order  of  the  Friars  Minor  in  insecurity 
and  formless  and  to  give  it  form."  2  , 

As  already  told,  the  first  acquaintance  between  Francis 
and  Hugolin  dates  from  the  summer  of  1216,  when  the  Papal 
Court  was  established  in  Perugia.  No  closer  relations  were 
for  the  present  established.3 

Next  year,  on  May  14,  12 17,  Francis  held  his  usual  Pente- 
cost Chapter  at  Portiuncula.4  He  had  made  his  appearance 
only  with  grave  apprehensions.  On  his  way  thither  he  had 
opened  his  heart  to  a  friend.  "When  I  now  come  to  the 
Chapter,"  said  he,  "the  Brothers  ask  me  to  preach  as  usual, 
and  accordingly  I  do  so.  But  what  if  all  the  Brothers,  when 
I  am  ready  to  begin,  start  to  cry  out  against  me:  'We  do  not 
want  thee  to  rule  over  us  any  longer,  for  thou  art  not  eloquent, 
as  would  become  thee  and  as  thou  oughtest  to  be,  and  thou 
art  too  small  and  simple,  and  we  are  ashamed  to  have  so  simple 
and  poor-looking  a  Superior  over  us,  and  therefore  thou 
shalt  no  longer  be  called  our  supreme  head ! y  And  then  they 
will  cast  me  out  with  great  scorn!"5 

Anxious  before  the  many  accomplished  book-learned 
people  who  now  had  come  into  the  Brotherhood,  Francis 
began  to  preach  in  his  usual  simple  way.  And  a  wonder 
happened  —  no  one  called  out  against  him,  on  the  contrary 
all  the  Brothers  were  greatly  edified  and  filled  with  peace  1 
Then  Francis  took  courage  and  came  out  with  his  great  plan: 
—  that  now,  when  the  Brothers  were  so  many,  they  ought  to 
go  out  on  missions,  not  only  in  Italy  but  also  to  countries 
on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains,  to  Germany,  to  Hungary, 
to  France  and  Spain,  yes,  even  to  the  Holy  Land.  This 
proposal  was  received  with  favor,  and  they  started  to  divide, 
not  only  Italy  but  also  the  rest  of  the  world  into  mission- 

1  Felten,  p.  47. 

2  "minorum  ordinem  .  .  .  sub  limite  incerto  rogantem  novae  regulae  tra- 
ditione  direxit  et  informavit  informem. "  Vita  Gregor.  IX  (Muratori),  III, 
75,  quoted  in  Felten,  p.  45,  note  1. 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  c.  XXVII,  n.  74. 

4  When  Jordanus  advances  the  date  of  this  chapter  to  1219  (Anal.  Franc, 
I,  p.  2)  it  is  due  to  one  of  those  failures  in  memory  for  which  he  has 
already  apologized. 

6  Spec,  per/.,  cap.  64. 


CARDINAL    HUGOLIN  183 

districts,  Provinces.  The  Holy  Land  was  a  province  in  itself, 
and  over  it  a  man  was  placed,  for  whom  Francis  had  a  great 
liking,  Elias  Bombarone.1  For  himself  he  chose  to  go  to 
France,  "  because  there,  more  than  in  all  other  Catholic 
countries,  they  have  the  devotion  to  our  Lord's  Body."2  On 
leaving  he  held  one  of  his  usual  sermons  of  admonition,  in 
which  he  counselled  the  Brothers  to  go  about  in  much  silence 
and  inward  prayer,  "just  as  if  you  were  in  a  hermitage  or  a 
cell.  For  wherever  we  go  or  stay  we  have  with  us  a  cell. 
Brother  Body  is  our  cell,  and  the  soul  sits  in  it  like  a  hermit 
and  thinks  of  God  and  prays  to  Him."3 

In  the  Fioretti  this  journey  of  Francis  to  France  is  described 
with  many  additions.4  What  is  absolutely  definite  is  that 
Francis  in  the  latter  half  of  May,  12 17,  came  to  Florence, 
and  there  sought  Cardinal  Hugolin. 

Thomas  of  Celano  is  undoubtedly  right  when  he  says  that 
the  acquaintance  between  Francis  and  Hugolin  was  as  yet  not 
intimate.5  They  had  each  heard  the  other  praised  for  goodness 
and  piety  and  were  thus  prepared  in  advance  to  enter  into 
closer  friendship.  Hugolin  was  sent  by  Honorius  III  as 
Papal  Legate  to  Tuscany  with  the  double  task  of  establishing 
peace  between  the  perpetually  contending  republics  and  to 
preach  a  crusade.6  As  soon  as  Francis  on  his  arrival  at 
Florence  found  out  that  the  Cardinal  was  there,  he  sought 
him  out  —  simply  on  the  principle  he  followed   of   always 

1  Jordanus  a  Giano,  Anal.  Franc.,  I,  p.  4,  n.  9.  Compare  Anal.  Franc,  III, 
p.  10. 

2  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  65. 

3"Frater  enim  corpus  est  cella  nostra,  et  anima  est  eremita  qui  moratur 
intus  in  cella  ad  orandum  Dominum  et  meditandum  de  ipso."  Spec,  per/., 
Sab.   ed.,  p.   121. 

4  Cap.  XIII.  Anal.  Franc.,  Ill,  pp.  117  et  seq.  Francis  went  to  Rome  and 
visited  the  Apostles'  graves,  et  al. 

5"Nondum  alter  alteri  erat  praecipua  familiaritate  conjunctus,  sed  sola 
fama  beatae  vitae."     Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  XXVII,  n.  74. 

6  Felten:  "Papst  Gregor  IX"  (Freib.  i  Br.,  1886),  pp.  31-35,  p.  42.  Compare 
Archivio  della  R.  Soc.  Romana  di  Storia  P atria,  vol.  XII  (Roma,  1889),  p.  242, 
and  Honorius  Ill's  Bull  of  January  23, 1 217  (Potth.,  I,  nr.  5430)  and  of  March  6, 
1217  (Potth.,  I,  nr.  5487  and  5488),  by  which  the  Pope  commends  Hugolin's 
legation  to  the  Church  authorities  in  Lombardy  and  Tuscany  as  well  as  to  the 
authorities  of  Pisa.  In  May,  1 2 1 7,  Hugolin  stopped  for  a  time  in  Genoa  (M on. 
Germ.  SS.,  XVIII,  p.  138);  thence  he  went  to  Florence. 


1 84  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

seeking  quarters  with  the  clergy,  rather  than  with  lay-people.1 
The  Cardinal  received  him  with  great  cordiality,  and  a  con- 
versation began  in  which  Francis  lightened  his  burdened 
heart,  as  he  had  done  in  former  days  to  Bishop  Guido  in 
Assisi.  The  end  was  that  Francis  cast  himself  at  the  feet  of 
the  reverend  prelate  and  conjured  him  to  take  up  his  and  his 
Brothers'  affairs.  This  Hugolin  promised  with  pleasure,  and 
Francis  from  now  on  looked  on  him  as  his  spiritual  father,  to 
whom  he  showed  filial  reverence  and  obedience. 

The  first  effect  of  this  new  relation  was  that  Francis  aban- 
doned his  journey  to  France.  "  Brother  Francis,"  said 
Hugolin,  "I  do  not  want  you  to  go  over  the  Alps.  For  there 
are  many  prelates  in  the  Curia  at  Rome  who  do  not  feel  well 
disposed  towards  you.  But  I  and  the  other  Cardinals,  who  feel 
well  towards  you,  can  help  and  protect  you  better  if  you  do 
not  go  too  far  away."2  In  vain  did  Francis  plead  that 
he  could  not  send  his  Brothers  on  missionary  journeys 
to  far  and  dangerous  lands,  while  he  stayed  home  and 
saved  his  own  skin.  The  Cardinal  was  immovable,  and 
Francis  had,  instead  of  going  himself  to  France,  to  send 
there  the  "  Verse-king,"  Brother  Pacificus,  along  with  many 
other  Brothers.3 

What  now  first  of  all  attracted  Hugolin  and  set  his  organ- 
izing spirit  at  work  was  the  movement  which  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Friars  Minor  started  in  the  world  of  women.4 
Francis  had  taken  care  himself  of  Clara  and  her  Sisters  by 
procuring  for  them  the  Convent  of  San  Damiano;  he  had 
promised  to  look  after  them,  both  in  the  spiritual  and  temporal 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  XXVII,  n.  75.  Compare  Tres  Socii,  XIV:  "Et  quando 
erat  hora  hospitandi,  libentius  erant  cum  sacerdotibus  quam  cum  laicis  hujus 
saeculi."     (Amoni's  ed.,  pp.  85-86.) 

2  Francis'  earlier  friend  in  the  College  of  Cardinals,  John  of  St.  Paulo,  Cardi- 
nal of  S.  Prisca  and  Sabine  Bishop,  died  the  year  before.  (Eubel:  Hierarchia 
cath.  Medii  am,  I,  p.  36,  and  p.  3,  n.  1,  nr.  13.)  Among  the  new  friends  of  Francis 
of  Assisi  in  the  College  of  Cardinals,  Leo  Brancaleone  takes  a  foremost  place. 
In  1202  he  was  nominated  Cardinal-presbyter  with  the  titular  church  of 
S.  Croce  in  Jerusalem.  His  signature  is  found  on  Papal  bulls  until  May  23, 
1224  (Eubel,  p.  4).  Compare  Spec,  per/.,  cap.  67.  Later  (1219)  the  above  men- 
tioned Nicholas  Chiaramonti  was  made  cardinal  (Eubel  p.  37),  and  Francis 
had  thereby  obtained  a  new  friend  in  the  Curia. 

3  Spec.  Per/.,  cap.  65. 

4  See  pp.  179-180. 


CARDINAL    HUGOLIN  185 

sense,  as  long  as  he  lived.1  But  this  promise  could  not  be 
extended  to  include  all  of  those  who  now  came  and  asked  for 
the  Brothers  to  guide  them  to  salvation! 

The  Forma  vivendi  or  Rule  of  Life,  which  Francis  had  given 
Clara  and  her  Sisters,  simply  told  them  to  "live  after  the 
gospel,"  that  is  to  say,  in  poverty,  labor,  and  prayer.  After 
having  distributed  their  possessions  to  the  poor,  the  Sisters 
in  San  Damiano  could  not  again  accept  any  property,  either 
themselves  or  by  an  intermediary;  the  only  exception  was 
the  convent  itself  with  so  much  land  around  it  as  was  required 
for  its  isolation.  But  this  land  was  not  to  be  cultivated, 
except  as  a  garden  for  the  needs  of  the  Sisters.2  This  Privilege 
of  Poverty  was  what  Clara,  apparently  by  Francis'  inter- 
vention, in  1 2 15  had  had  ratified  by  Innocent  III.3 

This  was  all  the  rule  there  was  for  Clara  and  her  Sisters, 
and  this  Rule  applied  —  this  we  must  note  well  —  only  to 
San  Damiano,  for  the  simple  reason  that  Francis  had  never 
thought  of  the  possibility  of  more  convents  of  the  same  kind.4 
Now  when  there  was  talk  of  how  to  dispose  of  the  many 
young  women  who  gathered  together  in  all  the  towns  and 
wished  to  live  a  religious  life,  Hugolin  was  entirely  free.5 

In  the  course  of  the  years  1217  -1219  we  find  him  therefore 
busy  in  establishing  the  Order  which  has  since  come  to  be 
called  the  Clares,  but  which  in  the  documents  of  the  time  is 
called  by  the  most  varying  names.  Of  the  highest  importance 
to  the  understanding  of  the  evolution  of  the  Order  of  the 

1  Textus  originales  (Quar.,  1897),  p.  92. 

2  The  sisters  were  advised  by  Clara  to  observe  their  vow  of  poverty  "in  non 
recipiendo  vel  habendo  possessionem  vel  proprietatem  per  se  neque  per  inter- 
positam  personam  .  .  .  nisi  quantum  terrae  pro  honestate  et  remotione  mo- 
nasterii  necessitas  requirit;  et  ilia  terra  non  laboretur,  nisi  pro  horto  ad 
necessitatem  ipsarum."     Reg.  S.  Clarae,  cap.  VI.     (Textus  orig.,  pp.  64-65.) 

3  Test.  S.  Clarae  (Textus,  p.  277).     Compare  pp.  130-131. 

4  "Ipsis"  (Clara  and  her  sisters)  "beatus  Franciscus  formulam  vitae  tradidit," 
Hugolin  himself  says  explicitly  (Bull.  Franc,  I,  p.  243). 

5 1  lay  great  stress  on  this,  like  Lempp:  "Die  Anfange  des  Klarissenordens" 
in  Brieger's  "Zeitschrift  f.  Kgsch.,"  XIII,  pp.  181-245.  Of  "violent  conduct" 
on  Hugolin's  part  "against  Francis'  directions"  (p.  243)  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able discussion.  S.  Damiano  and  the  Sisters  there  cloistered  were  one  thing  for 
Francis,  the  new  convents  which  were  now  founded  were  something  different; 
it  was  for  S.  Damiano  alone  that  he  had  undertaken  to  care  (Wadding,  12 19, 
n.  44:  "huius  soli  us  curam"). 


l86  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Clares,  is  a  letter  of  August  27,  12 18  from  Honorius  III 
to  Hugolin.  It  is  an  answer  to  a  letter  from  the  Cardinal,  in 
which  he  had  informed  the  Pope  that  several  maidens  and 
other  women  wished  to  flee  from  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  the 
world  and  to  prepare  for  themselves  abiding  places  where 
they  could  live  without  owning  anything,  with  the  exception 
of  these  houses  and  the  chapel  or  church  appertaining  thereto. 
Several  pieces  of  land  had  been  offered  to  Hugolin  for  this 
object,  and  now  he  asked  for  full  authority  to  accept  these 
pieces  of  land  in  the  name  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  so  that  the 
convents  built  thereon  would  be  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  local  bishop  and  directly  subject  to  Rome.  Honorius 
granted  this  authority  in  his  answer;  no  other  churchly  or 
temporal  authority  should  have  anything  to  say  about  these 
convents,  and  this  position  of  exemption  should  continue  as 
long  as  the  Sisters  affected  by  it  should  abide  by  their  vow  of 
poverty.1 

Even  before  Hugolin  had  received  this  letter,  Bishop  John 
of  Perugia,  July  31,  12 18,  had  given  his  permission  for  the 
erection  of  a  convent  for  nuns  of  the  above  description,  upon 
Monteluce  by  Perugia.  In  exchange  for  his  renunciation  of 
his  jurisdiction  over  the  convent  he  exacted  only  a  tribute 
of  a  pound  of  wax  to  be  given  every  15th  of  August.2  At 
about  the  same  time  Hugolin  took  steps  for  the  establishment 
of  three  exactly  similar  convents  —  one  in  Siena,  outside  of 
Porta  Camollia,  one  in  Lucca  (St.  Maria  in  Gattajola),  and 
finally  one  in  Monticelli  near  Florence.3 

At  first  the  only  requirement  for  the  religious  life  in  these 
convents  was  poverty.  It  was  the  Franciscan  preaching  and 
the  Franciscan  life  which  had  drawn  these  women  out  of  the 
world  and  into  the  convent. 

When  the  problem  was  to  establish  a  proper  Rule  for  the 

1  Bull  Literae  tuae  (Sbaralea,  Bull.  Franc,  I,  p.  1):  "quamplures  virgines  et 
aliae  mulieres  .  .  .  deciderant  fugere  pompas  et  divitias  hujus  mundi  et  fabri- 
cari  sibi  aliqua  domicilia  in  quibus  vivant  nihil  possidentes  sub  coelo,  exceptis 
domiciliis  ipsis  et  construendis  oratoriis  in  eisdem."     (Potth.,  I,  5896.) 

2  Sbar.,  I,  635-636.  The  Sisters  are  there  called  Ancillae  Christi.  See  Hono- 
rius Ill's  Bull  of  September  24,  1222,  to  "Abbesses  and  nuns  (monialibus)  in  the 
convent  S.  Maria  of  Monteluce,"  Sbar.,  I,  pp.  13  et  seq.    (Potth.,  I,  6879c). 

3  Siena:  Sbar.,  I,  p.  11,  Potth.,  I,  6879b;  Lucca:  Sbar.,  I,  p.  10,  Potth.,  I, 
6879a;  Florence:  Sbar.,  I,  p.  3,  Potth.,  I,  6179. 


CARDINAL    HUGOLIN  187 

Order  for  these  new  convents,  the  obvious  thing  for  Hugolin 
to  do  was  to  consult  the  Lateran  Council  of  12 15  and  its 
Interdiction  of  New  Orders,  This  great  assemblage  of  the 
Church,  taking  into  consideration  the  so  frequently  proposed 
new  Orders  and  the  resulting  confusion,  determined  that  for 
the  future  no  new  Rules  of  an  Order  should  be  approved  by 
the  Church,  but  that  those  who  wished  to  found  a  new  con- 
vent or  establish  a  new  Order  should  be  instructed  to  accept 
one  of  the  old  and  tested  Rules.1 

One  of  the  first  to  whom  this  regulation  applied  was  St. 
Dominic.2  According  to  John  of  Saxony  the  Dominicans  as 
well  as  the  Friars  Minor  were  definitely  accepted  by  the  Lateran 
Council,  but  neither  of  them  obtained  Papal  sanction  of  their 
Rule.  Dominic  was  even  told  to  go  home  again  and  talk 
over  with  his  Brothers  as  to  which  of  the  Rules,  already  in 
existence,  they  would  decide  to  choose.3  They  chose  the 
Premonstratensian  Rule,  and  Honorius  ratified  this  choice, 
when  he  explicitly  defined  the  Dominicans  as  "a  canonical 
Order  after  the  Rule  of  St.  Augustin."  4 

Exactly  in  the  same  way  Hugolin  had  to  proceed  in  the 
case  of  the  nuns  of  St.  Clare.  As  Dominic  chose  the  Pre- 
monstratensian Rule  for  himself  and  his  associates,  Cardinal 
Hugolin  now  chose  for  the  Franciscan  Sisters  the  oldest  and 
most  respected  of  all  the  Rules  of  Orders  of  the  West  —  the 
Rule  of  the  Benedictines.    What  Francis  expressly  stood  by 

laNe  nimia  religionum  diversitas  gravem  in  ecclesia  Dei  confusionem 
inducat,  firmiter  prohibemus,  ne  quis  de  cetero  novam  religionem  inveniat; 
sed  quicumque  voluerit  ad  religionem  converti,  unam  de  approbates  assumat. 
Similiter  qui  voluerit  religiosam  domum  fundare  de  novo,  regulam  et  insti- 
tutionem  accipiat  de  religionibus  approbatis."  (.4.  SS.,  Oct.  II.  p.  604, 
n.  308.     Labbe,  XI,  col.  165  and  168). 

2  Bierfreund's  assertion  in  the  first  volume  of  his  book  on  Florence,  where 
he  says  that  Dominic  was  the  Pope's  and  Curia's  great  friend  and  obtained  all 
the  privileges  he  wanted,  in  distinction-  to  Francis,  is  quite  without  ground. 
See  A.  SS.,  Aug.  1,  pp.  437  et  seq., 

8  "In  quo  concilio  ordines  fratrum  praedicatorum  et  minorum,  qui  tunc 
recenter  surrexerunt  .  .  .  recepti  sunt,  sed  nondum  confirmati;  quia  idem 
Innocentius  ad  eorum  confirmationem  durus  fuit."  Vitae  fratrum  1.,  I, 
c.  XIV  (A.SS.,  p.  604,  n.  310). 

4  "ordo  canonicus  secundum  beati  Augustini  regulam."  Honorius  III, 
Bull  of  December  22,  1216  (Potth.,  I,  5403).  Echard  therefore  says  also: 
"non  tarn  ordinem  novum  erexit  [Honorius]  quam  ordinem  canonicum  auxit 
in  apostolicum"  (A.  SS.,  Aug.  1,  p.  458,  n.  416). 


l88  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

as  an  inevitable  basic  principle,  that  the  evangelical  poverty 
must  not  be  impaired,  Hugolin  adhered  to  accurately ;  not  once 
could  the  Sisters  acquire  ownership  of  the  ground  on  which 
the  convents  were  built;  they  belonged  to  Hugolin  in  the 
name  of  the  Church.  In  exactly  the  same  spirit  Francis 
had  not  wished  to  own  Portiuncula,  but  continued  to  regard 
the  land  as  belonging  to  the  Benedictines,  and  to  pay  them 
a  yearly  rent  for  it.1 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  55  (Sab.  ed.,  p.  98).  It  is  here  clearly  stated  that  Francis 
did  not  wish  the  Brothers  to  dwell  in  a  place,  which  was  not  "subtus  dominio 
aliquorum."  Therefore  Portiuncula  is  named  even  in  1244  in  a  document 
as  belonging  to  the  Abbey  on  Monte  Subasio  (Sab.  ditto,  p.  269).  Not  Hugo- 
lin, as  Lempp  would  have  it,  but  Francis  himself  introduced  this  difference 
between  dominium  and  usus,  ownership  and  use. 

Lempp  seems  in  his  article  to  ascribe  a  singular  meaning  to  the  fact  that 
Hugolin  had  a  forest  made  over  to  the  Sisters  in  Gattajola;  he  thinks  that 
this  must  have  involved  a  breach  of  their  poverty  brought  about  by  Hugolin, 
because  it  was  a  source  of  revenue  for  them.  In  the  same  way  the  great  Bene- 
dictine abbeys  owned  forests,  pastures,  lakes,  etc.  From  the  Bull  in  question 
it  is  clear  that  the  requisite  forest  only  is  referred  to,  because  the  whole  piece 
was  covered  with  trees.  The  woods  were  cut  down  when  the  convent  was  built. 
("Ostiensis  episcopus  a  Rolandino  Volpelli  cive  Lucanensi  silvam  quamdam 
quam  habebat  in  loco,  qui  Gattajola  dicitur  .  .  .  nostro  nomine  recepisset;  et 
in  monasterio  ibi  constructor  Honorius  III  writes.  Sbaralea,  I,  p.  10.)  Lempp 
admits  that  the  Clares  might  own  a  convent  with  chapel.  These  could  not 
float  in  the  air,  but  the  principle  of  poverty  is  preserved  by  having  the  title  to 
the  land  stand  in  some  one  else's  name  (in  this  case  the  Roman  throne).  This 
was  quite  in  Francis'  spirit,  and  Lempp  has  gone  wrong  when  he  ("Zeitsch. 
f.  Kgsh.,"  XXIII,  pp.  626-629)  declares  categorically  that  this  ordinance  was 
something  quite  different  from  what  Francis  and  Clara  desired.  (See  also 
Lemmens  in  "Romische  Quartalschrift,"  XVI,  pp.  93~I24-) 

Lempp  again  goes  wrong  when  he  (ditto,  p.  628),  as  proof  that  the  convent 
of  the  Clares,  erected  with  Hugolin's  approval,  really  owned  nothing  in  the  old 
monastic  and  anti-Franciscan  sense  of  the  word,  quotes  Honorius'  Bull  of  De- 
cember 9, 1 2 19  to  the  Clares  in  Monticelli.  It  reads:  "  Praeterea  locum  vestrum 
et  ea  quae  in  ipsius  circuitu  juste  ac  canonice  possidetis,  vobis  .  .  .  confirma- 
mus.  Ad  praestationem"  (read:  a  praestatione)  "decimarum  clausurae  vestrae 
et  de  hortorum  fructibus  vos  esse  decernimus  immunes."  (Sbar.,  I,  p.  4.) 
The  Sisters  in  Lucca  are  similarly  addressed  in  a  bull  ("locum  vestrum  cum 
omnibus  pertinentiis  suis  et  omnia,  quae  juste  et  canonice  possidetis."  Sbar., 
p.  n)  as  are  those  in  Monteluce  (p.  14). 

Two  things  here  are  important,  which  Lempp  entirely  overlooks:  (a)  locum 
means  in  the  older  Franciscan  terminology  always  a  convent,  and  by  "quae  in 
ipsius  circuitu"  or  "pertinentia"  there  is  not  meant  the  possession  of  surround- 
ing lands,  but  of  outhouses  and  the  like  belonging  to  the  convent;  (b)  the  Pope 
adopts  in  all  three  Bulls  the  expression  "juste  ac  canonice."  But  rightly  and 
canonically  the  Clares  could  own  nothing  except  domicilia  and  oratoria  (Bull  of 
August  27,  1218).     Finally,  regarding  the  freedom  from  tithes  for  the  fruits  of 


CARDINAL    HUGOLIN  189 

The  outlines  of  the  Rule  of  Life  of  the  Clares  was  in  accord- 
ance with  that  of  St.  Benedict.  They  were  not  bound  literally 
to  this  Rule  —  as  Innocent  IV  expressly  declared  at  a  later 
period  l  —  they  were  only  in  general  obliged  to  lead  a  life 
based  on  obedience,  poverty  and  chastity.  To  this  were 
added  many  rigid  rules  of  cloister.  The  cloister  could  be 
entered  by  no  stranger,  and  the  active  care  of  the  sick,  which, 
according  to  Jacques  de  Vitry,  the  Sisters  were  to  have  prac- 
tised, must  now  in  every  case  cease.2  It  is  certainly  Francis 
who  wished  the  rigid  cloistering  for  preventing  the  meeting 
of  his  Brothers  and  the  nuns;  Hugolin  is  said  nevertheless 
to  have  wept  from  sympathy  when  he,  with  Francis,  wrote 
down  this  requirement.3  After  Francis'  death  he  modified 
several  of  the  most  rigid  of  the  observances.4 

After  1 2 19  the  Clares  lived  after  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict, 
but  with  the  addition  of  the  so-called  "  Observances  of  St. 
Damian."5  In  these  last  it  is  permissible  to  see  with  some 
degree  of  confidence  the  forma  vivendi  which  Francis  in  his 
time  had  given  Clara,  and  which  now  was  put  into  the  second 
position,  but  was  by  no  means  inoperative.6  The  core  of 
these  observances  (observantiae)  was  presumably  the  privi- 
legium  of  poverty,  which  Clara,   after  the  custom  of  the 

their  garden,  granted  to  the  Sisters,  and  in  which  Lempp  seems  to  see  an  indi- 
cation of  a  definite  ownership  of  the  ground,  the  cultivation  of  the  garden,  with 
the  uses  of  the  convent  always  in  view,  was  the  only  use  of  the  ground  Clara 
allowed.     (Textus  originates,  p.  64.) 

1  Sbar.,  I,  pp.  315  and  350. 

2  Boehmer,  "  Analekten,"  p.  98.     Actus  b.  Francisci,  cap.  XLIII  at  end. 

3  "Hoc  audivi  ab  antiquis  patribus  quod  ipse"  [Hugolin]  "cum  beato  Fran- 
cisco .  .  .  ordinaverunt  et  scripserunt  regulam  sororum  ordinis  S.  Damiani 
.  .  .  propter  cujus  regulae  arctitudinem  partim  devotione,  partim  compas- 
sione  cardinalis  ipse  perfundebatur  multis  lacrymis  in  scribendo."  (Anal.  Fr., 
Ill,  p.  708.) 

4  Sbar.,  I,  p.  101,  p.  213,  p.  215,  p.  246. 

5 "  Observantias  nihilominus  regulares,  quas  juxta  ordinem  dominarum 
sanctae  Mariae  de  sancto  Damiano  de  Assisio  praeter  generalem  beati  Bene- 
dicti  regulam  vobis  voluntarie  indixistis."     Sbaralea,  I,  p.  4. 

6  For  this  must  be  thus  understood,  when  Gregory  IX,  May  11,  1238,  an- 
nounced to  the  prioress  of  the  Clares,  Agnes  of  Bohemia,  that  Francis'  formula 
vitae,  after  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  was  introduced,  must  be  regarded  as  "post- 
posita  "  (Sbar.,  I,  p.  243).  Francis,  moreover,  had  not  given  out  this  rule  of  life 
publicly  all  at  once,  but  after  his  habit  in  instalments  ("  plura  scripta  tradidit 
nobis,"  says  Clara  therefore.     Text,  orig.,  p.  276). 


190  SAINT    FRANCIS    OF    ASSISI 

time,  tried  to  have  confirmed  on  the  accession  of  each  new 
pope. 

As  long  as  Francis  lived  there  was  no  complete  new  Rule 
given  to  the  Sisters  in  San  Damiano  or  to  the  community  of 
Poor  Clares  in  general.  It  was  only  after  the  death  of  Francis 
that  Gregory  IX  tried  to  introduce  modifications,  first  of  all 
in  the  Regulation  of  Poverty.  "On  account  of  the  unfavor- 
able times"  it  might  be  well  to  own  a  little  land,  on  which 
the  convent  could  be  firmly  founded,  instead  of  depending 
entirely  on  begging.  These  views  of  his  he  also  brought  to 
the  attention  of  Clara,  but  was  (see  pp.  136,  137)  definitely 
refused.  On  September  17,  1228  Clara  obtained  from 
Gregory  —  as  she  had  from  his  predecessor  —  the  privilege 
of  poverty.1  The  Clares  in  Perugia  had  their  privilege  re- 
newed June  16,  1229,  and  Clara's  sister,  Agnes,  obtained 
the  same  for  her  convent  of  Monticelli,  near  Florence.2 

Other  convents  were  less  constant,  however.  Many  of 
them  in  this  very  year  had  the  right  of  ownership  granted 
by  Gregory,  and  not  only  the  right  of  usufruct,  but  of  inherit- 
ing and  owning.3 

This  defection  filled  Clara  with  anxiety  and  sorrow.  As 
long  as  she  lived,  San  Damiano  would  remain  "the  fortified 
tower  of  supreme  poverty."  But  how  was  it  to  be  when  she 
was  gone  ? 

Thence  came  her  ardor  for  replacing  the  Benedictine  Rule 
and  its  proportion  of  the  privilege  of  poverty  with  a  com- 
pletely new,  real  Franciscan  Rule  of  the  Order.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  she  herself  wrote  it  and  that  it  was  the  one 
which  Innocent  IV  ratified  two  days  before  her  death.4 

This  Rule  is,  as  far  as  possible,  modelled  on  the  Franciscan 
Rule.    Like  it,  it  is  divided  into  twelve  chapters,  each  of 

1  Textus  orig.,  p.  97.    The  original  is  still  preserved  in  Assisi. 

'Perugia:  Sbar.,  I,  p.  50.  Monticelli:  Analecta  Franc,  III,  p.  176  (letter 
from  St.  Agnes  to  her  sister:  "Inter  haec  sciatis,  quod  dominus  papa  satisfecit 
mihi  .  .  .  secundum  intentionem  vestram,  et  meam  de  causa,  quam  scitis, 
de  facto  videlicet  proprii"). 

3  In  these  cases  it  reads  "vobis  et  per  vos  monasterio  vestro  concedimus  et 
donamus."  Sbar.,  I,  73.  Bull  of  July  18,  1231.  Compare  Lemmens  (as 
before),  p.  107. 

4  See  p.  136. 


CARDINAL    HUGOLIN  191 

them  not  greatly  differing  from  Hugolin's  and  Francis'  Rule 
of  1 2 19.  But  the  point  on  which  Clara's  Rule  is  based  is 
in  the  very  first  place  the  obligation  of  poverty.  As  she 
came  to  this  section  she  ceased  to  be  the  impersonal  law- 
giver and  began  to  speak  from  her  heart. 

"  After  the  Heavenly  Father,"  she  writes,  "  had  enlightened 
my  heart  with  His  grace,  and  had  led  me  in  the  model  of  our 
most  holy  Father  Francis  on  the  way  of  penance,  shortly  after 
his  own  conversion,  then  I  and  my  Sisters  promised  him 
willing  obedience." 

And  as  she  turned  her  thoughts  to  these  times,  now  so  re- 
mote, when  she  first  said  good-bye  to  the  world,  one  recollec- 
tion after  another  pressed  upon  her.  She  remembered  so  many 
words  that  came  from  the  mouth  of  the  dear  teacher  and 
guide  addressed  to  the  honor  of  his  Lady,  the  noble  Lady 
Poverty,  and  wrote  them  down.  And  with  strong  hand  she 
impressed  the  sentence,  in  which  the  ideal  claim  appears  on 
record  in  all  its  rigor  beyond  all  appeal: 

"The  Sisters  shall  own  neither  house  nor  convent  nor 
anything,  but  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  shall  wander  through 
this  world,  serving  the  Lord  in  poverty  and  humility." 

Under  these  words,  as  Clara  was  closing  her  eyes  in  death, 
Innocent  set  the  inviolable  seal  of  Rome.1 

1  Reg.  S.  Clarae,  cap.  VIII,  compare  cap.  VI  (Textus,  p.  65  and  pp.  62-63), 
in  which  Clara  concedes  "as  much  earth  as  is  necessary  for  the  isolation  of  the 
convent "  and  for  a  garden.  Not  all  of  the  Clares  accepted  the  Rule  of  August  9, 
1253.  Many  continued  to  live  after  the  version  of  Hugolin  of  1247,  confirmed 
by  Innocent  IV  and  in  some  particulars  modified.  (See  the  Bull  in  question 
in  Sbaralea,  I,  p.  476,  Potth.,  II,  nr.  12635.) 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  MISSIONARIES 

WHILE  Francis,  together  with  Hugolin,  was  engaged 
with  internal  affairs  of  the  Order,  the  mission- 
aries of  the  Chapter  of  121 7  were  gone  each 
in  his  own  direction.  None  of  them  had  much 
success  with  it.  Those  who  went  to  France  were  asked  if 
they  were  Albigenses,  and  when  they,  not  understanding 
the  question,  answered  "Yes,"  they  were  treated  accord- 
ingly; for  Albigenses  were  heretics.  The  German  mission 
went  no  better.  It  was  a  troop  of  sixty  Brothers  under  the 
lead  of  John  of  Penna.  They  too  were  ignorant  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  but  they  had  learned  the  word  "Ja" 
(Yes).  As  they,  by  constantly  using  this  as  an  answer  to 
the  questions  addressed  to  them,  obtained  food  and  drink 
and  lodging,  they  kept  on  using  the  magic  word.  But  now 
it  went  wrong,  for  as  they  also  answered  "  Ja"  to  the  question 
if  they  were  heretics,  they  were  cast  into  prison,  put  in  the 
stocks,  and  maltreated  in  other  ways.  In  Hungary  no 
better  fortune  awaited  the  Brothers;  the  peasants  set  their 
dogs  on  them  and  the  pig-herds  ran  after  them  with  their 
long  sticks.  "Why  do  they  torment  us  so?"  the  Brothers 
asked  each  other  in  vain,  and  one  of  them  thought  that  it 
might  be  that  the  Hungarians  wanted  their  cloaks.  Then 
they  gave  their  tormentors  their  cloaks,  but  that  did  not 
help.  Remembering  the  words  of  the  gospel,  they  gave  them 
next  their  robe.  But  even  this  did  not  satisfy  the  Hungarians. 
"Let  us  in  God's  name  give  them  our  breeches  too,"  the 
patient  Brothers  said,  and  now  they  were  permitted  to  go  on 
naked.  One  of  the  Brothers  had  the  fortune  in  this  way  — 
as  we  are  told  by  John  of  Giano  —  to  part  with  his  breeches 
six  times.    At  last  they  hit  upon  the  plan  of  smearing  their 

192 


THE     MISSIONARIES  193 

breeches  with  cow-dung,  so  that  the  peasants  would  not 
want  them.1 

All  these  Job's  torments  naturally  filled  Francis  with  care 
and  disquiet.  It  was  probably  at  this  time  that  he  is  said  to 
have  had  the  following  dream.  He  saw  a  little  black  hen  and 
around  it  a  whole  flock  of  little  chickens  were  running  and 
chirping  —  so  many  were  the  chickens  that  the  poor  hen  could 
not  get  them  all  under  her  wings.  "The  hen  is  I,"  he  said 
to  himself,  as  he  awakened.  "I  am  small  and  black,  and  it 
is  evident  that  I  cannot  take  care  of  my  sons." 2  More  than 
ever  it  was  made  clear  to  him  that  he  must  make  over  the 
care  of  his  Order  to  the  Church.  This  made  it  easy  for 
Hugolin  to  persuade  him  to  go  to  Rome  and  have  an  audience 
with  the  Pope.  This  probably  occurred  in  the  winter  of 
1217-1218;  we  know  that  in  the  interval  between  December  5, 
1217  and  April  7  of  the  next  year  Hugolin  was  in  Rome.3 

On  this  occasion  the  Cardinal  seems  to  have  had  his  doubts 
as  to  the  impression  which  Francis  would  make  upon  the  new 
Pope  and  his  entire  Curia.  He  had  therefore  persuaded  him 
in  preparation  to  study  a  speech,  but  when  Francis  started 
to  say  it  he  found  that  he  had  forgotten  every  word  of  it. 
This  often  happened  to  him;  on  such  occasions  he  used  to 
say  to  his  audiences,  at  once,  how  it  was,  and  he  often  would 
then  speak  much  better  than  if  he  had  given  the  discourse 
he  had  studied.  If  he  found  that  he  could  say  nothing,  he 
would  give  the  people  his  blessing  and  let  them  go.4 

And  so  it  happened  as  he  stood  before  the  Pope.  Without 
being  frightened,  Francis  knelt  down  at  once  and  asked  for 
his  blessing.  He  then  spoke  and  got  into  so  ecstatic  a  mood 
that  at  last  he  began  to  move  his  feet  in  rhythmic  movement, 
like  David  before  the  ark.5     So  far  from  finding  this  laughable, 

1  Anal.  Fr.,  I,  p.  3  and  p.  7.  2  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XVI. 

3  Potth.  I,  nrs.  5629-5747.  That  this  was  Francis'  first  audience  with 
Honorius  III  follows  from  the  authorities  —  Hugolin  was  disturbed  about 
Francis'  ways  and  feared  that  he  would  cut  a  poor  figure.  (Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I, 
XXVII,  n.  73:  "episcopus  Hostiensis  timore  suspensus  est  .  .  .  ne  beati  viri 
contemneretur  simplicitas. ")  For  this  he  had  no  ground  if  Francis  already 
in  1 2 16  had  stood  before  Honorius  with  authority  as  God's  messenger  and,  so 
to  say,  had  forced  from  him  the  Portiuncula  indulgence. 

4  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  n.  73.     Bonav.,  XII,  7. 

5  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  same  place.     Tres  Socii,  cap.  XVI. 

14 


194  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

the  Pope  and  Cardinals  were  deeply  impressed  by  the  remark- 
able man,  and  when  Francis  at  last  begged  that  Cardinal 
Hugolin  might  be  made  the  special  protector  of  the  Order, 
the  request  was  acceded  to. 

During  his  stay  in  Rome  Francis  made  the  acquaintance 
of  St.  Dominic;  Hugolin  brought  them  together.  The 
Spanish  founder  of  the  great  Order  was  seized  with  the  greatest 
and  most  sincere  admiration  for  the  little  barefooted  Poor 
Man  of  God  from  Assisi.  "Let  us  melt  our  Orders  into  one," 
he  said  to  him,  and  as  Francis  would  not  accede,  Dominic 
begged  of  him  at  least  as  a  memorial  the  rope  he  wore  around 
his  waist.  Soon  after  the  two  founders  were  to  meet  again 
at  Portiuncula,  and  one  year  before  Dominic's  death  they 
met  once  more  in  Rome.  It  was  on  this  last  occasion  — 
in  the  winter  of  1 220-1 221  —  that  Hugolin,  with  a  reform  of 
the  clergy  in  mind,  proposed  to  Francis  and  Dominic  to  have 
the  higher  ranks  of  the  clergy  filled  with  men  of  the  two  new 
Orders.  Both  Dominic  and  Francis  refused  to  enter  into 
such  an  arrangement.  "My  Brothers  are  minores,  let  them 
not  become  majores"  was  the  rejoinder.1  It  was  under  the 
influence  of  Francis  that  Dominic,  at  the  Pentecost  Chapter, 
held  in  Bologna  in  1220,  introduced  incapacity  of  ownership 
into  his  Order  (only  in  12 18  he  had  sought  Papal  approbation 
of  the  possessions  belonging  to  the  Order),  and  on  his  death- 
bed he  pronounced  his  curse  on  all  who  would  impair  his 
Brothers'  evangelical  poverty.2 

In  the  year  12 18  there  was  held  the  first  Pentecost  Chapter, 
at  which  Hugolin  was  present  as  the  Order's  protector.  The 
Brothers  met  him  in  solemn  procession  and  Hugolin  dis- 
mounted from  his  steed,  took  off  his  fine  clothes,  and  walked 
barefoot,  and  clad  in  the  Franciscan  habit,  to  Portiuncula. 
Here  he  sang  mass  in  the  little  chapel,  while  Francis  officiated 
as  deacon  and  read  the  gospel.  It  may  have  been  at  the  same 
Chapter  that  Hugolin  afterwards  helped  the  Brothers  wash 
the  feet  of  some  paupers.     Foot-washing  here  was  more  than 

1  Spec,  perf.,  c.  43.  Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  c.  86-87.  Bernard  a  Bessa,  Anal. 
Franc  Ill,  p.  675. 

2  Jean  Guiraud:  Saint  Dominique  (Paris,  1901),  pp.  164-168,  p.  189.  Do- 
minicus  died  August  6,  1221. 


THE     MISSIONARIES  195 

a  ceremony,  and  when  the  Cardinal  did  not  succeed  in  getting 
the  dirt  off  this  particular  beggar's  feet,  the  beggar  said 
angrily,  without  suspecting  in  the  humble  Brother  waiting 
upon  him  the  great  Prince  of  the  Church,  "Go  on  your  way, 
and  let  some  one  come  that  understands  this!" 

As  already  said,  Dominic  had  seized  the  chance  to  again 
meet  Francis;  he  found  him  in  the  Cardinal's  suite.  What 
he  saw  at  the  Chapter  must  have  deeply  impressed  him. 
"For  among  so  many  men,  none  was  heard  to  gossip  or  to 
speak  unbecomingly,  but  wherever  there  was  a  group  of 
Brothers  assembled,  they  either  prayed  or  said  their  Office  or 
wept  over  their  sins  or  over  the  sins  of  their  benefactors.  .  .  . 
And  their  beds  were  the  naked  earth,  but  some  had  also  a 
little  straw,  and  the  pillow  was  either  a  stone  or  a  piece  of  a 
tree.  .  .  .  And  St.  Francis  said  to  his  Brothers:  'In  the  name 
of  holy  obedience  I  bid  you  all  who  are  here  assembled,  that 
none  of  you  shall  be  concerned  about  what  you  shall  eat,  or 
what  you  shall  drink,  or  what  your  bodies  need,  but  think 
only  of  praying  and  praising  God  and  leave  to  Him  the  whole 
care  of  your  bodily  welfare,  for  He  will  take  care  of  you!' 
But  St.  Dominic,  who  was  present  all  the  time,  wondered  over 
the  message  Francis  had  given  out  and  thought  that  he  had 
borne  himself  very  unreasonably,  because,  where  so  great  a 
number  of  men  were  assembled,  he  asked  that  none  should  give 
attention  to  the  things  which  are  necessary  for  the  body.  .  .  . 
But  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  wanted  to  show  that  He  loved  His 
Poor  with  special  love,  and  at  once  inspired  the  people  in 
Perugia,  in  Foligno,  in  Spello,  in  Assisi  and  in  the  other  towns 
in  the  vicinity  to  bring  the  holy  assemblage  both  food  and 
drink.  And  behold,  at  once  men  came  from  all  these  towns 
with  asses,  mules  and  horses  loaded  with  bread,  with  fruit 
and  with  other  good  things  to  eat.  .  .  .  And  besides  they 
came  with  tablecloths,  pots,  dishes  and  cups  and  other  such 
things,  both  large  and  small,  which  so  large  a  crowd  of  men 
would  require.  And  the  more  anyone  was  able  to  bring  the 
Brothers,  .  .  .  the  luckier  he  considered  himself."  l 

1  Fior.,  c.  18  (Actus,  c.  XX).  Compare  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XV,  p.  88, 
Amoni's  ed.,  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  II,  V,  n.  100,  and  Philip  of  Perugia's  letter  of  1305  to 
the  General  of  the  Order,  Gonsalvo,  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  709. 


196  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

In  fact  the  generosity  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  vicinity 
at  the  time  of  these  meetings  was  very  great.  Jordanus  of 
Giano  tells  of  a  Chapter,  at  which  he  was  present,  where 
they  had  to  remain  two  days  over  the  time  at  the  place  to 
get  all  eaten  up  which  was  brought  them.1 

At  the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  the  next  year  (May  26,  12 19) 
it  was  decided  to  again  take  up  the  mission  work  which  two 
years  before  had  failed  so  badly.  Hugolin  had  employed 
the  interval  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  Brothers  by  sending 
out  letters  of  introduction  for  them  to  the  various  regions 
whither  they  were  going;  he  undertook  to  answer  for  them 
to  the  Bishops  and  declared  them  to  be  good  Catholic  men, 
who  rejoiced  in  the  approval  of  the  Apostolic  throne  and  who 
could  be  safely  permitted  to  preach  everywhere.2  Then  at 
the  right  moment  —  June  11,  12 19  —  came  the  document 
from  the  highest  church  authority,  which  it  was  Hugolin's 
fortune  to  have  obtained:  Pope  Honorius'  Letter  of  Com- 
mendation for  the  Brothers,  addressed  to  all  "  Archbishops, 
Bishops,  Abbots,  Deacons,  Archdeacons  and  other  prelates" 
whom  the  Brothers  might  meet.  The  bearer  of  the  Letter 
is  declared  in  this  Papal  brief  to  be  a  good  Catholic,  who  sows 
God's  seed  after  the  example  of  the  Apostles  and  whose  way 
of  life  is  approved  by  the  Holy  See.3  Armed  with  copies  of 
this  document  and  with  Francis'  permission  to  receive  new 
Brothers  into  the  Order,  the  missionary  leaders  went  off  each 
at  the  head  of  his  little  band.4 

This  time  no  missionaries  were  sent  to  Germany,  so  great 
was  the  Brothers'  fear  of  the  prisons  and  stocks  of  the  Teutons. 
On  the  other  hand  Brother  Giles  and  Brother  Electus  went 
to  Tunis,  Brother  Benedict  of  Arezzo  to  Greece,  Paciricus  went 
back  to  France,  and  a  small  selected  band  undertook  to  carry 
out  Francis'  old  plan  and  go  to  the  miramolin  of  Morocco. 

1  Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  6,  n.  16. 

2  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XVI,  p.  94,  Amoni's  ed. 

3  Bull  Cum  Dilecti,  Sbar.,  I,  p.  2  (Potth.,  I,  n.  608).  A  new  bull,  especially 
addressed  to  the  French  prelates,  in  whose  dioceses  the  heretics  were  most 
prevalent,  was  published  March  29,  1219.     Sbar.,  I,  p.  5.     Potth.,  I,  6263. 

4  When  it  is  said  in  the  Tres  Socii,  p.  94,  Amoni's  ed.,  that  the  missionaries 
bore  with  them  "litteras  Cardinalis"  "regula  bulla  apostolica  confirmata," 
the  Papal  recommendation  is  meant. 


THE     MISSIONARIES  197 

The  mission  to  Tunis  had  a  sad  end.  Giles  and  his  com- 
panion were  put  on  board  a  ship  by  force,  to  be  taken  away. 
This  was  done  by  the  Christians  of  the  place,  who  were  afraid 
that  the  presence  of  the  missionaries  would  result  in  diffi- 
culties with  the  Mussulmen.  And  Brother  Electus,  who  had 
just  separated  from  the  others,  soon  suffered  martyrdom, 
which  he  accepted  kneeling,  with  the  Rule  in  his  clasped 
hands,  declaring  his  accountability  for  all  the  sins  he  might 
have  committed  during  his  life  in  the  Order.1 

Francis  embraced  with  great  affection  the  Brothers  who 
were  going  to  the  miramolin.  Their  names  were  Vitale, 
Berardo,  Peter,  Adjuto,  Accursorio  and  Otto.  Before  send- 
ing them  Francis  addressed  them,  and  according  to  an  old 
account  his  words  were  these: 

"'My  sons!  God  has  ordered  me  to  send  you  to  the  land  of 
the  Saracens  to  announce  and  make  known  there  His  faith  and 
to  combat  the  law  of  Mohammed.  .  .  .  Prepare  yourselves, 
therefore,  to  fulfil  the  will  of  the  Lord!'  But  they  bowed 
their  heads  and  said,  '  Father,  we  are  ready  to  obey  thee  in 
all  things.'  But  Francis  was  rejoiced  greatly  over  such  com- 
plete obedience  and  said  with  love  to  them:  'Dearest  sons, 
so  that  you  can  better  fulfil  God's  command,  see  to  it  that 
there  is  peace  and  unity  and  indissoluble  charity  among  you. 
Envy  no  one,  for  envy  is  the  occasion  of  sin.  Be  patient  in 
tribulations,  be  humble  if  all  goes  well  with  you.  Copy 
Christ  in  poverty,  obedience  and  chastity.  For  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  was  born  poor,  lived  in  poverty,  taught  poverty 
and  died  in  poverty.  And  to  show  that  He  loved  chastity, 
He  wished  to  be  born  of  a  virgin,  followed  and  counselled 
virginity  and  died  surrounded  by  virgins.  And  He  was 
obedient  from  His  birth  to  His  death,  yes  to  His  death  on  the 
Cross.  Hope  in  God  alone,  He  guides  and  helps  us.  Carry 
with  you  the  Rule  and  the  Breviary,  and  pray  with  complete- 
ness at  the  holy  times.  And  all  of  you  obey  your  great 
Brother  Vitale.  O  my  sons,  well  do  I  rejoice  over  your  good 
will,  but  that  I  shall  be  separated  from  you,  that  grieves  me 
in  my  heart.     But  the  command  of  God  must  be  obeyed 

1  Egidio  (Giles):  A.  SS.,  April  III,  p.  224.  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  78.  Electus: 
Spec,  perf.,  cap.  77.     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  III,  135.    Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  224. 


198  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

rather  than  our  will.  And  this  I  beg  of  you,  that  you  may 
always  have  the  sufferings  of  our  Lord  before  your  eyes,  that 
will  strengthen  you  and  inspire  you  to  suffer  for  Him ! ' 

"Then  these  holy  Brothers  answered:  ' Father,  send  us 
where  thou  wilt,  for  we  are  ready  to  do  thy  will.  But  you, 
father,  help  us  with  thy  prayers  to  fulfil  thy  commands. 
For  we  are  young  and  have  never  been  out  of  Italy,  and  the 
people  we  go  to  we  know  not,  but  we  know  that  they  rage 
against  the  Christians,  and  we  are  ignorant  and  cannot  speak 
Arabic.  And  when  they  see  us  in  such  poor  raiment  and  with 
the  rope,  they  will  ridicule  us  as  crazy  men  and  will  not  listen 
to  us;  therefore  we  greatly  need  thy  prayers.  Ah,  good 
father,  shall  we  really  be  separated  from  thee?  How  shall 
we  be  able  to  do  God's  will  without  thee?' 

"But  St.  Francis  was  greatly  overcome,  and  with  great 
power  he  said:  'Depend  on  God,  my  sons!  He,  who  sends 
you,  will  also  give  you  power  and  will  help  you,  as  that  is 
His  good  pleasure ! '  Then  all  six  fell  on  their  knees  and  kissed 
his  hand  with  many  tears  and  asked  for  his  blessing.  And 
St.  Francis  wept  also  and  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  heaven  and 
blessed  them  and  said :  '  The  blessing  of  God  the  Father  come 
upon  you,  as  it  came  upon  the  Apostles;  may  He  strengthen 
and  lead  you  and  comfort  you  in  your  troubles.  And  fear 
not,  for  the  Lord  is  with  you  and  will  fight  for  you."1 

This  narration  may  in  some  particulars  be  more  or  less  his- 
toric; one  realizes  at  any  rate  an  impressive  conception  of 
the  relations  between  Francis  and  his  Brothers.  And  then  the 
six  young  missionaries  went  away  —  in  accordance  with  the 
precept  of  the  Bible,  without  staff  or  sack,  without  shoes 
on  the  feet,  without  silver  and  gold  in  their  belts.  Their 
way  took  them  through  Aragon  —  where  Vitale  fell  sick  and 
had  to  be  left  after  them  —  through  Castile  and  Portugal. 
Two  years  before  this  the  Friars  Minor  had  been  in  Portugal; 
King  Alfonso's  pious  sister  Sancia  had  received  them  in  a 
friendly  way,  had  given  them  a  little  chapel  in  Alenquer  and 
had  a  house  built  for  them.     Soon  after  the  queen,  Urraca, 

1  " Qualiter  beatus  Franciscus  eos  misit  Marochium"  (Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp. 
581-582.  After  a  manuscript  of  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Compare 
pp.  15  et  seq.)- 


THE     MISSIONARIES  199 

gave  them  a  convent  in  the  vicinity  of  Coimbra.  The  five 
missionaries  took  their  departure  hence  for  Seville,  which 
was  then  under  Mohammedan  control. 

On  arriving  at  Seville  they  began  to  preach  outside  the 
principal  mosque  of  the  city,  and  were  at  once  seized  and 
brought  before  the  authorities.  The  miramolin,  who  resided 
in  Morocco,  was  at  this  time  Abu  Jacob.  After  the  defeat 
his  father  Mohammed  el  Nasir  had  suffered  in  1 2 1 2  at  Tolosa, 
he  was  not  inclined  to  displease  the  Christians,  and  by  so 
much  the  less  as  he  had  at  the  head  of  his  army  a  Christian 
leader,  Dom  Pedro,  Infanta  of  Portugal,  who  because  of  dis- 
cord with  his  brother,  the  reigning  king,  had  accepted  Moham- 
medan employment.  Abu  Jacob  seems  on  the  whole  to  have 
been  a  peaceful  soul;  his  greatest  enjoyment  was  to  play 
shepherd  and  to  drive  personally  his  flock  to  the  pasture. 
When  the  five  Franciscans  from  Seville  were  sent  to  him,  so 
that  he  could  determine  their  fate,  he  seems  to  have  had  most 
pleasure  in  letting  them  go.  In  any  case  they  were  not  cast 
by  him  into  prison,  but  he  let  them  live  with  their  co-religion- 
ist, Dom  Pedro. 

The  Brothers  utilized  this  freedom  now  to  preach  in  the 
markets  and  streets.  They  had  learned  a  little  Arabic, 
especially  Berardo,  who  was  leader  of  the  band  of  missionaries. 
It  happened  that  one  day  the  miramolin,  who  was  riding  to 
his  father's  grave  outside  the  city,  passed  by  a  place  where 
Berardo  stood  and  preached  from  a  wagon.  He  ordered 
thereupon  that  the  five  Brothers  should  not  be  punished, 
but  sent  home  to  the  Christian  land. 

The  carrying  out  of  this  order  was  entrusted  to  Dom 
Pedro,  who  sent  the  five  missionaries  to  Ceuta  under  guard, 
whence  they  were  to  sail  home.  Instead  the  Brothers  turned 
about  and  went  back  to  Morocco  and  began  to  preach  again. 
Now  the  miramolin  put  them  into  prison,  but  set  them  free 
again,  whereupon  they  were  again  taken  to  Ceuta,  when 
they  again,  just  as  before,  returned  to  Morocco.  Dom  Pedro 
took  them  with  him  on  a  warlike  expedition  into  the  interior 
of  the  country;  both  he  and  the  other  Christians  living  in 
the  capital  feared  that  the  missionary  activities  of  the  Brothers 
would  result  in  a  persecution  of  the  Christians.     Accordingly 


200  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

after  his  return  from  this  raid  Dom  Pedro  had  the  Brothers 
carefully  watched,  but  when  they,  one  Friday,  saw  the  chance 
to  escape  —  this  being  the  Mohammedan  weekly  holiday  — 
and  started  to  preach,  where  they  knew  that  the  miramolin 
would  pass  by,  they  could  no  longer  be  saved.  After  fearful 
torture  —  among  other  tortures  they  were  rolled  naked 
back  and  forth  a  whole  night  on  a  bed  of  broken  glass  —  and 
after  a  hearing,  where  their  answers  remind  us  of  the  first 
martyrs  before  the  Roman  judges,  they  managed  to  arouse 
Abu  Jacob's  fury,  so  that  he  rose  up  and  himself  beheaded 
the  five  martyrs  with  his  own  hand.  Dom  Pedro  saw  to  it 
that  their  lifeless  bodies  were  taken  to  Coimbra,  where  Queen 
Urraca,  at  the  head  of  the  entire  populace,  went  to  meet  the 
martyrs  and  laid  them  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Cruz.1 

The  announcement  of  the  deaths  of  these  five  martyrs  was 
read  at  the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  1 221  —  it  was  on  January  16 
of  the  preceding  year  that  they  suffered  martyrdom  —  and 
Francis  thereupon  cried  out,  "Now  I  can  truly  say  that  I 
have  five  real  Brothers." 2  When  we  think  of  his  deep 
reverence  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  such  an  utterance 
from  his  mouth  is  quite  credible.3  According  to  another 
source  he  is  said  to  have  forbidden  the  reading  of  the  account 
of  the  sufferings  of  the  Brothers.  "Let  every  one  exult  in 
his  own  martyrdom  and  not  in  that  of  others,"  he  is  said  to 
have  commanded,  as  he  thought  of  the  Brothers'  pride  in 
now  having  five  martyrs  in  the  Order.4 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  beyond  all  doubt  that  Francis  at 
this  time  himself  went  forth  to  win  martyrdom.  As  early 
as  1 2 18  he  had  sent  Brother  Elias  away  as  a  missionary  to 
the  Holy  Land,  and  Elias  had  here,  among  others,  received 

1  Anal.  Franc.,  Ill,  pp.  583-593.  A  shorter  version  in  Karl  Miiller:  "Die 
Anfange  des  Minoritenordens,"  pp.  207-210,  and  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp. 
15-21. 

2  Anal.  Franc,  III,  21. 

3  Compare  his  words  in  Celano,  Vita  sec,  II,  112  (d'Alencon's  ed.):  "Summam 
(obedientiam)  .  .  .  illam  esse  credebat,  qua  divina  inspiratione  inter  infideles 
itur,  sive  ob  proximorum  lucrum,  she  ob  martyrii  desiderium.  Hanc  vero  petere 
multum  Deo  iudicabat  acceptum." 

4  Jordanus,  n.  8  {Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  3).  Jordanus  himself  was  one  of  those 
who  thus  would  be  proud  of  what  others  had  undergone — see  his  candid  avowal, 
same  place,  n.  18  (p.  7). 


THE     MISSIONARIES  201 

the  first  German  into  the  Order  —  the  learned,  far-travelled 
clerk,  Caesarius  of  Speier.1  In  the  summer  of  12 19  a  strong 
attack  was  to  be  made  on  Egypt  by  the  Crusaders  by  order 
of  Honorius  III.  Francis  decided  in  his  own  way  to  partici- 
pate in  this  Holy  War.  After  having  placed  Brother  Mat- 
thew of  Narni  as  his  vicar  in  Portiuncula,  where  he  was  to 
remain  and  put  the  habit  of  the  Order  on  the  new  Brothers, 
and  appointed  Brother  Gregory  of  Naples  as  his  vicar  for  the 
rest  of  Italy,  Francis  started  for  the  Holy  Land  in  company 
with  his  old  friend  Peter  of  Cattani.2 

1  Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  4  (Jordanus,  n.  9). 

2  "Matthaeum  vero  instituit  ad  S.  Mariam  de  Portiuncula,  ut  ibi  manens 
recipiendos  ad  ordinem  reciperet,  Gregorium  autem,  ut  circumeundo  Italiam 
fratres  consolaretur."     (Jordanus,  n.  11.     Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  4.) 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AND   THE  CHAPTER 
OF  MATS 

THE  Brothers  who  from  love  of  Christ  go  to  the 
heathen  may  act  in  two  ways  with  them.  The 
first  way  is,  not  to  quarrel  or  dispute  with  words, 
but  for  the  sake  of  God  to  be  subject  to  all  crea- 
tures and  thus  to  let  it  be  known  that  they  are  Christians. 
The  other  way  is,  that  they,  when  they  see  that  it  pleases 
the  Lord,  shall  announce  the  word  of  God  and  summon  all 
to  believe  in  God  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  to 
let  themselves  be  baptized  and  become  Christians.  And  the 
Brothers  must  remember  that  they  have  given  up  themselves 
and  their  bodies  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  they,  for 
love  to  Him,  must  not  yield  either  to  visible  or  invisible  foes; 
for  the  Lord  says, '  He  that  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake,  shall 
save  it!'"1 

It  is  certain  that  it  was  with  such  feelings  as  these  that 
Francis  and  his  companion,  Pietro  dei  Cattani,  on  St.  John's 
Day,  1 2 19,  embarked  on  the  Crusaders'  fleet,  sailed  out  of  the 
harbor  of  Ancona  and  saw  Italy  disappearing  behind  them. 
The  journey  by  sea  to  the  Holy  Land  used  then  to  last  a 
month.  At  last  in  July,  Francis  went  ashore  at  St.  Jean 
d'Acre,  where  he  was  probably  met  by  Brother  Elias.  Possi- 
bly Francis  had  brought  some  Brothers  with  him  from  Europe 
—  the  story  about  Brother  Barbarus  located  in  Cyprus 
points  to  this  conclusion.2  It  may  be  that  a  number  of  the 
Brothers  joined  him  in  St.  Jean  d'Acre  and  followed  him  to  the 
Crusaders'  army,  which  lay  before  Damietta  in  Egypt. 

1  From  Legenda  antiqua  (Sab.,  Opusc.  de  critique,  I,  pp.  102-105).  Compare 
Reg.  sec,  cap.  XII. 

2  Cel.,  Vit.  sec,  II,  115  (ed.  d'Alencon). 


THE     FOREIGN    MISSIONS  203 

The  siege  of  this  strong  place  had  already  lasted  a  long 
time  (since  May,  12 18),  and  the  end  was  not  in  sight.  Nearly 
every  day  there  was  a  new  fight;  just  before  Francis'  arrival, 
namely,  July  29,  12 19,  there  had  been  a  great  battle,  in  which 
two  thousand  Saracens  had  bitten  the  dust.  On  July  31 
the  Crusaders  accordingly  ventured  upon  an  attack  by  storm 
upon  Damietta,  but  were  beaten  back  with  great  loss  by  the 
Mussulmans  under  the  two  brave  and  able  leaders,  Melek  el 
Kamel,  sultan  of  Egypt,  and  his  brother  the  sultan  of  Damas- 
cus, Melek  el  Moaddem,  called  Conrad  by  the  Christians. 

At  first  Francis  found  a  large  enough  field  of  work  in  the 
army  of  the  Crusaders.  The  Christian  camp  was  very  low 
in  point  of  morals,  and  after  the  Crusaders'  new,  great  defeat 
of  August  29,  where  five  thousand  men  were  left  upon  the 
field,  their  minds  were  inclined  to  listen  to  Francis'  preaching 
of  conversion.  Of  the  effect  of  this  preaching  Jacques  de 
Vitry  writes  in  his  letter  from  Damietta  to  friends  at  home: 

"Rainer,  the  Prior  of  St.  Michael"  (in  St.  Jean  d'Acre) 
"has  gone  over;into  the  Order  of  Friars  Minor,  which  is  spread- 
ing greatly  over  the  whole  world,  because  they  so  closely 
follow  the  life  of  the  first  Christians'  congregations  and  on 
the  whole  of  the  Apostles.  .  .  .  Also  my  clerk  Colinus  the 
Englishman,  and  two  other  of  my  companions,  namely 
Master  Michael  and  Lord  Matthews,  to  whom  I  had  handed 
over  the  care  of  souls  at  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross" 
(also  in  St.  Jean  d'Acre),  "and  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  I  can  keep  the  cantor  and  Henryk  and  the  others  back."1 

First  of  all  Francis  was  attracted  here  to  get  an  opportunity 
at  last  to  put  into  practice  his  long-cherished  dream  —  to 
come  to  stand  face  to  face  with  the  heathen  and  declare  God's 
word  to  them.  After  the  great  defeat  peace  negotiations 
were  commenced,  and  Francis  may  have  taken  advantage  of 
this  opportunity  to  visit  Melek  el  Kamel  with  a  single  Brother 

1  Bohmer:  " Analekten,"  pp.  101-102.  Wadding,  1219,  n.  63.  In  my 
"Appendix,"  p.  — ,  I  have  said  that  this  letter  was  written  in  August,  12 19. 
Sabatier  (Vie,  p.  122)  places  its  date  in  November,  1219,  immediately  after 
the  capture  of  Damietta  (November  5);  Bohmer  ("Anal."  p.  101)  places  it 
in  March,  1220.  The  value  of  the  letter  as  proof  is  equally  great  in  either 
case.  —  Compare  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  4.  (Francis  foretells  the  defeat  of  the 
Christians.) 


204  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

— Bonaventure  names  Illuminato.  On  reaching  the  Saracen's 
outposts  the  two  Friars  Minor  were  not  received  particularly 
well,  but  Francis,  by  continually  calling  out,  Soldan!  Soldan! 
managed  to  induce  them  to  bring  them  before  the  Ruler  of 
the  Faithful.  He  seems  not  to  have  taken  their  discourse 
unfavorably,  but  sent  the  daring  evangelist  away  in  peace 
with  the  words,  "Pray  for  me,  that  God  may  reveal  to  me 
which  faith  is  the  most  pleasing  to  Him!"  According  to 
Jacques  de  Vitry,  Francis  preached  several  days  more  in  the 
Mussulman  camp,  but  without  great  results.1 

We  do  not  know  how  long  Francis  stayed  with  the 
Crusaders'  army.  Damietta  fell  on  November  5,  1220,  and  a 
sack  of  the  town  began,  so  wild  and  savage  that  it  must 
have  rilled  the  mild  evangelist  with  grief  and  horror.  Is  it  not 
conceivable  that  he  shook  the  dust  from  his  feet  and  went 
off  to  visit  the  holy  places,  which  were  now  so  near  and  which 
must  have  exercised  an  irresistible  force  of  attraction  over 
him?  How  could  he,  Francis,  have  passed  Christmas,  1220 
better  than  in  Bethlehem?  Where  the  feast  of  the  An- 
nunciation of  the  Blessed  Virgin  the  next  year  better  than 
in  Nazareth,  and  where  could  he  have  passed  Good  Friday  and 
Easter  better  than  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane 
and  on  Golgotha?  His  biographers  are  entirely  silent  about 
this  time  in  his  life,  but  when  after  his  return  home  we  find 
him  keeping  Christmas  at  the  crib  in  Greccio,  we  can  see  in 
it  a  commemoration  of  a  Christmas  night  in  the  real  Bethle- 
hem ;  and  that  which  happened  in  La  Verna,  when  the  wounds 
of  Christ  were  imprinted  on  his  body,  was  that  anything  else 
than  the  completion  of  what  he  had  already  felt  two  years 

1  Jacques  de  Vitry  in  Historia  Occidentalis ,  lib.  II,  c.  32  (Bohmer,  pp.  104- 
105),  and  in  the  letter  of  1219  (1220),  (pp.  101-102).  Jordanus,  n.  10  (Anal. 
Franc.,  I,  4).  Compare  Thomas  of  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  c.  XX,  Bona- 
venture, IX,  8,  and  Actus,  cap.  27,  in  which  we  find  it  said:  "Et  dedit  illis" 
(Soldanus)  "quoddam  signaculum  quo  viso  a  nemine  laedebantur."  The 
French  orientalist  Riant  concludes  from  this  and  similar  testimony  that  Francis 
must  have  received  from  the  Sultan  a  letter  of  protection  for  himself  and  his 
Brothers,,  similar  to  the  firmans  which  afterwards  were  issued  for  the  Fran- 
ciscans (first  by  Zaher  Bibars  I,  1 260-1 277).  This  should  explain  why  the 
Pope  preferred  to  use  Friars  Minor  as  ambassadors  to  the  Mussulman  ruler. 
In  1244  a  Franciscan  ambassador  was  sent  by  the  sultan  of  Egypt  to  Pope 
Innocent  IV.   See  Golubovitch  in  Luce  eAmore,  II  (Florence,  1905),  pp.  498-501. 


THE     FOREIGN    MISSIONS  205 

earlier,  kneeling  on  a  Good  Friday  in  the  actual  Place  of 
Skulls  (Golgotha)?  ; 

In  this  pilgrimage  Francis  was  interrupted  by  a  messenger 
from  Italy,  who  brought  bad  news.  It  was  a  lay-brother  by 
the  name  of  Stephen,  who  without  any  order  from  his  superior 
had  gone  on  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land  to  tell  Francis  what 
was  going  on  at  home  during  his  absence  in  the  Holy  Land. 
What  he  had  to  tell  was  certainly  very  disquieting  and  showed 
Francis  again  how  hard  it  was  to  guide  so  large  a  body, 
in  which,  as  Jacques  de  Vitry  rightly  remarks,  "not  only 
the  perfect,  but  also  the  young  and  imperfect,  can  find  a 
reception  without  any  preliminary  trial  or  practice  in  the 
discipline  of  the  convent."1  At  first  his  two  vicars,  Gregory 
of  Naples  and  Matthew  of  Narni,  together  with  the  older 
Brothers  in  the  Order  (fratres  senior es),  at  a  Chapter,  held 
probably  on  St.  Michael's  Day,  12 19,  had  adopted  a  new 
explicit  regulation  of  Fasts,  of  which  there  was  no  trace  in 
the  Rules  of  the  Order.2  Then  Brother  Philip,  in  his  function 
as  superior  for  the  Clares,  had  been  in  Rome  and  sought  to 
obtain  that  all  who  insulted  these,  his  wards,  should  be  ex- 
communicated. Finally,  Brother  John  of  Capella  gathered 
a  whole  crowd  of  lepers  about  him,  gave  them  a  Rule  and 
thus  wished  to  establish  a  new  Order;  he  had  even  gone  to 
the  Pope  to  get  his  Rule  ratified.3 

Francis  was  sitting  at  the  table,  along  with  Peter  of  Cattani, 
when  Brother  Stephen  came  with  his  bad  tidings  —  meat 
was  already  on  the  table,  although  it  was  one  of  the  days  on 
which  by  the  new  Rule  meat  should  not  be  eaten.  With  a 
glance  at  the  food,  Francis  asked: 

"Lord  Peter"  (for  Francis  always  called  him  "Lord"  as 
a  tribute  to  his  learning),  "Lord  Peter,  what  are  we  to  do 
now?" 

"Eh,"  answered  Brother  Peter,  with  a  real  Italian  inter- 

1  Bohmer,  " Analekten,"  p.  101. 

2  This  ordained  fasting  only  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  except  for  the 
fasts  of  the  Church.  The  Brothers  could  by  Francis'  permission  fast  also  on 
Mondays  and  Thursdays  (Jordanus,  n.  11). 

3  Lempp  believes,  curiously  enough,  that  John  of  Capella's  Order  consisted 
exclusively  of  married  people  (gens  maries),  and  identifies  it  with  the  later 
Third  Order!    (Frere  Elie  de  Cortone,  Paris,  1901,  pp.  42-43.) 


206  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

jection,  " Eh,  Lord  Francis,  whatever  you  say,  —  for  you 
have  the  power!" 

"Then  let  us,"  answered  Francis,  "in  accordance  with  the 
holy  gospel,  eat  what  is  set  before  us!"  L 

Not  only  the  prescriptions  for  fasting  were  repugnant  to 
Francis,  as  against  the  gospel,  and  as  impossible  to  keep  in 
observance  by  an  order  of  wandering  preachers,  but  it  dis- 
turbed him  profoundly  that  no  less  than  two  of  his  disciples 
had  dared  to  do  what  he  was  most  opposed  to  —  to  plague 
the  Roman  throne  about  privileges.2  He,  who  in  his  Rule  had 
even  obliged  the  Brothers  to  vacate  their  convent  as  soon  as 
anyone  wanted  to  take  it  from  them,3  must  now  yield  to  having 
the  Clares  protected  by  a  Bull  of  Excommunication.4  It  was 
time  for  him  to  enter  into  affairs  as  quickly  as  possible,  and 
Francis  hurried  back  to  Italy  in  company  with  Peter  of  Cattani, 
Elias  of  Cortona,  Caesarius  of  Speier  and  other  Brothers. 

They  seem  to  have  arrived  the  last  of  the  summer,  and  at 
once  went  to  Hugolin.  By  his  influence  the  proposals  of  both 
Brother  Philip  as  well  as  of  Brother  John  of  Capella  were  dis- 
approved by  the  Holy  See,  and  Francis  called  together  there- 
upon a  Chapter  of  the  Order  at  Portiuncula  for  Pentecost,i22i. 

1  Luke  x.  8.  This  entire  description  is  found  in  all  its  details  in  Jordanus  of 
Giano  {Anal.  Franc,  I,  pp.  4-5). 

2  Even  in  his  Testament  he  forbids  this  in  the  strongest  terms  (Opusc, 
p.  80). 

3  Reg.  pr.,  cap.  VII:  "nullum  locum  .  .  .  alicui  defendant." 

4  Also  that  a  Franciscan  was  an  inspector  (visitator)  for  the  Clares  must 
have  displeased  Francis.  He  himself  had  in  his  time  undertaken  a  supervision 
of  the  Sisters  in  San  Damiano,  but  that  was  an  exceptional  case.  For  the  new 
convents  of  the  Clares  he  obtained  from  Hugolin  that  a  Cistercian  named 
Ambrosius  should  be  made  inspector.  Ambrosius  died  during  Francis'  absence, 
and  Philip  had  at  the  request  of  Hugolin  taken  up  the  office.  He  was  strongly 
reprehended  for  it  by  Francis,  and  a  certain  Brother  Stephen,  who  with  per- 
mission of  Philip  had  entered  a  Clares'  convent,  had  to  do  severe  penance.  (Cel., 
Vita  secunda,  II,  c.  156,  ed.  d'Alencon.     Wadding,  12 19,  n.  48  and  n.  45.) 

After  the  death  of  Francis,  Gregory  IX  at  once  made  over  the  supervision  of 
the  Clares  to  the  General  of  the  Franciscans  (Sbar.,  I,  p.  36).  Innocent  IV 
accepted  this  ordinance  in  Hugolin's  Rule  when  he  ratified  it  in  1247.  Even 
St.  Clara's  Rule  of  1253  forms  no  exception  ("visitator  noster  sit  semper  de 
ordine  fratrum  minorum"),  while  she  appeals  to  the  relation  so  necessary  to 
the  welfare  of  S.  Damiano  ("fratres  .  .  .  misericorditer  a  praedicto  ordine 
fratrum  semper  habuimus,"  Textus,  p.  74.    Compare  Vita  S.  Clarae,  V,  n.  37). 

Even  in  1227  the  connection  between  the  Cistercians  and  Clares. was  dis- 
cernible (Potth.,  I,  nr.  8027  and  nr.  8048). 


THE     FOREIGN     MISSIONS  207 

Francis  now  was  certain  of  one  thing  —  his  Order  must  be 
reorganized  from  the  ground  up.  It  follows  of  itself  that 
Hugolin  stood  by  him  in  this;  this  is  testified  to  explicitly  by 
Bernard  of  Bessa.1  Like  a  first  stone  for  the  new  building, 
which  was  now  to  be  erected  —  and  indeed  as  a  foundation 
stone  —  the  Bull  must  be  regarded  by  which  Honorius  III, 
on  September  22,  1220,  ordained  that  every  one  who  wished 
to  enter  into  the  Order  of  Friars  Minor  must  first  go  through 
a  year's  novitiate.2  This  closed  the  doors  for  all  the  more 
or  less  loose  birds,  whom  Francis  was  wont  to  call  by  the  name 
of  " Brother  Fly"  —  those  vagabonds,  so  numerous  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  who  ate  well,  slept  well,  but  wanted  neither  to 
work  nor  to  pray,  and  who,  after  spending  some  time  with  the 
Brothers,  would  depart  again.3  If  once  received  into  the 
Order,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  leave  it,  and  strong 
measures  were  to  be  taken  against  all  who  put  on  Fran- 
cis' habit  and  lived  by  their  own  hand,  without  joining  the 
Order  (extra  obediential).*    For   the  liberty    allowed   to   a 

1  "In  regulis  seu  vivendi  formis  ordinis  istorum  dictandis  sanctae  memoriae 
dominus  papa  Gregorius,  in  minori  adhuc  officio  constitutes,  beato  Francisco 
intima  familiaritate  conjunctus,  devote  supplebat  quod  viro  sancto  judicandi 
scientia  deerat."  (Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  686.)  Compare  Hugolin's  own  words 
when  pope:  "in  condendo  praedictam  regulam  .  .  .  sibi"  [i.e.  Francisco] 
"astiterimus"  (Bull  Quo  elongati'oi  September  28,  1230,  Sbar.,  I,  p.  68). 

2  Sbaralea,  I,  p.  6.  Potth.,  nr.  6361.  The  Bull  is  addressed  prioribus  seu 
custodibus  fratrum  minor um.  This  is  the  first  time  the  word  "custodian "'(in 
Franciscan  language  director  of  a  convent)  was  used  in  an  official  document, 
and  the  Pope  translated  it  accordingly  by  the  universally  understood  term 
"prior." 

3  frater  musca.     Cel.,  Vit.  sec,  III,  21.    Spec,  c.  24.     Bonav.,  VII,  3. 

4  It  is  curious  to  see  Lempp  (Elie  de  Cortone,  p.  43,  n.  5)  assert  that  Honorius 
would  hereby  proscribe  les  adhesions  libres,  celles  precisement  qui  avaient  ete 
jusque-ld  possibles  aux  gens  maries.  Lempp  is  thinking  of  members  of  the 
so-called  "Third  Order,"  but  these  were  anything  but  vagrants,  married  and 
home-living  citizens  as  they  were!  No,  the  Pope  referred  to  those  vagabonds 
of  whom  it  was  spoken  above  and  against  whom  Francis  over  and  over  again 
expresses  himself,  and  in  expressions  which  perfectly  accord  with  the  Papal 
bulls.  Thus  in  the  letter  to  the  Chapter  General:  "Quicumque  autem  fratrum 
hoc  observare  noluerint,  non  teneo  eos  catholicos  nee  fratres  meos  .  .  .  Hoc 
eliam  dico  de  omnibus  aliis,qui  vagando  vadunt,  postposita  regidae  disciplina" 
(Bohmer,  "  Analekten,"  p.  61).  And  in  the  first  Rule:  "Et  omnes  fratres, 
quotiescumque  declinaverint  a  mandatis  Domini  et  extra  obedientiam  evagaverint 
sicut  dicit  propheta"  (Ps.  cxviii,  21)  "sciant,  se  esse  maledictos"  (Anal., 
p.  6).  Honorius  and  Francis  are  here  in  accord,  n'en  deplaise  d  M.  le  dr. 
Lempp. 


208  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Brother  Rufino  or  to  a  Brother  Giles  it  would  be  impossible 
to  grant  to  the  crowds,  who  at  a  later  period  began  to  stream 
in  to  be  received.  Some  words  of  Francis  are  still  preserved 
for  us  which  show  how  he  at  times  looked  upon  this  large  and 
varied  herd  almost  with  dread,  of  which  herd  he  was  to  be 
the  shepherd.1  During  his  stay  in  the  Orient  he  had,  more- 
over, acquired  a  serious  affliction  of  the  eyes,  and  one  thing 
with  another  caused  him  at  the  Chapter  on  St.  Michael's  Day, 
1 2  20  to  resign  his  office  as  head  of  the  Order.  As  his  vicar  he 
named  Peter  of  Cattani  and,  as  this  one  soon  after  died 
(March  10,  1221),  Elias  Bombarone.2  In  this  way  he  in- 
tended too  to  have  freer  hands  for  the  work  of  organization 
which  was  before  him.  From  now  on  Francis  was  no  longer 
the  head  of  the  Order  and  its  guide,  but  still  was  its  law- 
giver and,  in  the  sight  of  Rome,  always  its  real  Superior.3 
Along  with  the  accomplished  scribe,  Brother  Caesarius  of 
Speier,  in  whom  he,  when  in  the  Orient,  seems  to  have 
acquired  confidence,  he  went  on  with  the  task  which  first  and 
foremost  was  to  be  attended  to  —  to  prepare  a  substitute  for 
the  few  and  brief  rules  written  down  in  Rivo  Torto,  which 
Innocent  III  in  his  time  had  approved,  to  replace  these  by  a 
new  and  complete  Rule  of  the  Order,  to  which  Rome  could 
give  solemn  and  final  approval.4  . 

But  before  he  started  on  this  difficult  task  he  was  to  have 
the  joy  of  being  together  with  more  of  the  Brothers  than  ever 
before.  During  his  absence  the  wildest  rumors  had  gone 
through  Italy  —  some  said  that  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands 
of  the  Mussulmans;  others   that  he  was   drowned;   others, 

1  Spec.  perf.  (Sab.  ed.),  p.  180:  "Tam  magni  et  multimodi  exercitus  ducem, 
tarn  ampli  et  dilatati  gregis  pastorem." 

2  Pietro  dei  Cattani's  epitaph  was  found  on  the  outside  of  the  Portiuncula 
chapel  and  reads:  ANNO.  DNI.  M.CC.XXI.  VI.  ID.  MARTII  CORPUS 
FR.  P.  CATANI  QUI  HIC  REQUIESQIT  MIGRAVIT  AD  DOMINUM 
ANIMAM  CUIUS  BENEDICAT  DOMINUS.  AMEN.  A  photographic 
reproduction  in  Schniirer:  "Franz,  von  Assisi"  (Munchen,  1905),  p.  99. 

3  See  even  in  the  prologue  to  the  Rule  confirmed  by  Rome  in  1223:  "Frater 
Franciscus"  (not  frater  Helias)  "promittit  obedientiam  et  reverentiam  domino 
papae  Honorio.  ...  Et  alii  fratres  teneantur  fratri  Francisco  .  .  .  obedire" 
(Opusc,  Quar.  ed.,  p.  63). 

4  Co-operation  between  Francis  and  Caesarius  is  referred  to  by  Jordanus, 
n.  15  (Anal.  Fr.,  I,  p.  5). 


THE     FOREIGN     MISSIONS  209 

again,  that  he  had  suffered  martyrdom.  When  he  now  proved 
to  be  alive,  the  Brothers  came  in  droves  —  priests  and  lay- 
brothers,  the  oldest  in  the  Order  and  the  newly  received 
novices  —  all  wished  to  see  the  newly  returned  master,  to 
hear  him,  and  to  receive  his  blessing.  This  was  the  Chap- 
ter of  the  Mats,  celebrated  in  Franciscan  history,  so-called 
because  the  Brethren  who  were  there,  to  the  number  of  three 
(five?)  thousand,  could  not  be  accommodated  in  the  houses, 
which  the  town  of  Assisi  had  prepared  for  them  down  at 
Portiuncula,  but  had  to  sleep  in  the  open  air  or  in  huts  of 
woven  boughs  or  mats  (stuoie).1 

Hugolin  was  much  occupied  at  this  time  with  a  new  em- 
bassy to  northern  Italy,  where  he  was  to  again  preach  a 
crusade;  in  the  days  of  the  Chapter  he  kept  himself  in 
Brescia  and  Verona.  As  his  representative  he  had  sent 
another  cardinal,  Rainer  Cappoccio  from  Viterbo;  with  him 
were  several  other  men  of  high  spiritual  dignity.  A  bishop 
among  them  sang  the  solemn  Mass  of  Pentecost  with  its 
wonderful  Sequence,  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus.  Francis  read  the 
gospel,  another  Brother  the  epistle.  Then  Francis  preached 
first  before  the  Brethren  on  the  text,  "  Blessed  be  the  Lord, 
who  strengthens  my  hands  for  the  fight,"  and  then  to  the 
people.  "But  St.  Francis"  —  thus  the  Fioretti  tell  it  — 
"preached  with  a  high  voice  what  the  Holy  Ghost  inspired 
him  with.  And  as  text  for  his  preaching  he  gave  out  these 
words:  'Little  children,  you  have  promised  great  things  to 
God;  still  greater  things  are  promised  us  by  God  if  we  keep 
to  what  we  have  promised  Him  and  firmly  expect  He  has 
promised  us.  The  lust  of  the  world  is  short,  but  the  punish- 
ment which  follows  it  is  endless.  The  sufferings  in  this  life 
are  short,  but  the  glories  in  the  other  life  are  endless!'  And 
upon  these  words  he  preached  .with  great  devotion  and  en- 
couraged all  to  obedience  to  Holy  Mother  Church,  to  mutual 
charity,  to  patience  in  adversity,  to  purity  and  angelic  chas- 
tity, to  peace  and  unity  with  God  and  man,  to  humility  and 
mildness  to  all,  to  despising  the  world,  to  burning  zeal  for  holy 
poverty,  to  attention  and  devotion  in  prayer  and  songs  of 

xThe  house  at  Portiuncula.  Spec,  per/.,  cap.  7.  Pentecost  came  this  year 
on  May  30;  there  was  no  difficulty  in  camping  in  the  open  air. 

15 


2IO  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

praise,  and  casting  all  care,  both  as  concerns  the  body  and 
the  soul,  upon  the  Good  Shepherd,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the 
Blessed."  l 

It  was  a  festival  of  meeting  and  of  happiness,  which  Francis 
celebrated  on  this  occasion  with  his  Brothers  and  the  people. 
It  was  at  the  expiration  of  this  Chapter  —  and  it  lasted  eight 
days  —  that  the  Brothers  had  to  remain  two  days  over  the 
time  at  Portiuncula,  to  eat  all  the  gifts  of  God  with  which 
they  were  loaded  by  the  people.2  It  was  coming  to  its  end 
at  last,  when  Francis  pulled  the  skirt  of  the  habit  of  Brother 
Elias,  who  had  led  the  meeting  and  at  whose  feet  he  had  sat, 
and  told  him  he  had  something  on  his  mind.  Elias  bent  down 
to  him  and  then  said:  ''Brothers,  the  Brother"  —  this  was 
the  name  given  to  Francis  after  his  resignation  — "  the 
Brother  asks  me  to  speak  for  him;  he  is  tired  and  cannot  say 
anything  more.  There  is  a  country  called  Germany,  he  says; 
there  dwell  many  pious  Christians,  whom  we  often  see  coming 
here  through  the  valley  with  long  staves  and  large  travelling 
bottles;  singing  the  praise  of  God  and  His  saints,  in  spite  of 
the  sun  and  their  sweat,  they  go  on  to  the  graves  of  the 
Apostles.  But  as  some  of  our  Brothers  were  formerly  badly 
treated  in  this  land  of  Germany,  none  of  the  Brothers  can  be 
persuaded  to  go  there :  but  if  any  will  go  there  for  love  of  God 
and  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  then  he  will  give  him  the 
same  freedom  of  conduct  as  is  given  to  those  who  go  to  the 
Holy  Land  —  yes,  even  more.  If,  therefore,  there  is  anyone 
present  who  wants  to  go  there,  let  him  stand  up  and  go  to 
one  side."  Then  ninety  Brothers  stood  up  and  declared 
themselves  ready  to  go  —  as  they  thought  —  to  certain  death. 

As  leader  of  the  German  mission,  Brother  Caesarius  of 
Speier  was  very  naturally  selected.  With  him  followed 
Brother  John  of  Piano  Carpino,  who  could  preach  in  both 
Latin  and  Lombard;  Brother  Barnabas,  who  could  preach 
in  Lombard  and  German;  Francis'  future  biographer,  Thomas 
of  Celano,  and  many  other  Brothers.  Among  the  mission- 
aries was  also  John  of  Giano,  who  himself,  in  his  chronicle, 
has  told  with  much  humor  how  he,  as  a  punishment  for 
undue  haste  in  making  fine  acquaintances  —  namely,  with  the 
1  Fioretti,  cap.  18.  2  Jordanus,  n.  16. 


THE     FOREIGN     MISSIONS  211 

outgoing  martyrs  in  spe  —  was  impelled  to  go  with  them.1  In 
all  there  were  twelve  priests  and  thirteen  lay-brothers  that 
went,  and  we  may  believe  that  Francis  blessed  them  "all  that 
he  could"  with  more  fervor  than  usual,  and  not  only  them, 
but  all  who  by  their  prayers  would  be  won  for  the  Order.2 

The  summer  passed  and  the  Brothers,  who  were  to  go  to 
Germany,  went  their  way.  But  it  was  not  martyrdom  they 
encountered.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  leaves  of  Fran- 
ciscan history,  the  tale,  as  Jordanus  has  written  it,  of  how  he 
and  the  other  Brothers  went  from  Trent  to  Bozen,  from  Bozen 
to  Brixen,  from  Brixen  to  Sterzing,  and  from  Sterzing  to 
Mitten walde.  It  was  evening  as  they  reached  this  last-named 
town,  'and  since  morning  they  had  eaten  nothing,  and  they 
had  travelled  seven  miles.  To  be  able  to  sleep  on  such  empty 
stomachs,  they  decided  to  fill  them  with  water  from  a  stream 
which  was  there.  Next  morning  they  resumed  their  travels, 
but  by  midday  some  of  them  began  to  fall  sick;  they  found 
some  wild  apples,  which  they  ate,  and,  as  it  was  the  time  of 
the  beet  harvest,  they  begged  some  beets  and  ate  them. 

On  the  whole  the  Brothers  were  well  received  on  their 
journey;  they  eventually  settled  for  the  time  being  in  Strass- 
burg,  Speyer,  Worms,  Mayence,  and  Cologne,  in  Wurtz- 
burg,  Ratisbon  and  Salzburg.  Following  the  old  Francisan 
way,  they  took  shelter  where  they  found  it  —  with  the  lepers, 
in  a  cellar  or  in  an  abandoned  church.  In  Erfurt,  Brother 
Jordanus  was  asked  by  the  citizens,  as  he  came  there  with 
some  Brothers,  if  they  should  not  build  them  a  convent.  "  But 
as  he  had  never  seen  a  convent  in  the  Order,  he  answered 
them :  '  I  do  not  know  what  a  convent  is,  but  if  you  want  to 
do  something,  then  build  us  a  house  near  the  water,  so  that 
we  can  wash  our  feet!'  And  so  it  was  done."3  And  a  char- 
acteristic story  also  is  told  of^  the  Brothers  in  Salzburg,  to 

1  Jordanus,  n.  18. 

2  "  Pater  noster  in  capitulis  fratrum  solitus  erat  in  fine  semper  capituli  benedi- 
cere  et  absolvere  omnes  fratres  presentes  et  venturos  ad  religionem  ...  in 
fervore  caritatis."  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  87.  Compare  in  Francis'  Testament  and 
letters  the  eloquent  expressions  in  which  his  heart  overflows:  "My  blessed 
Sons,"  "My  beloved  Sons,"  "I,  Brother  Francis,  your  servant,  bless  you  all 
that  I  can"  (Analekten,  pp.  18,  40,  64;  Opuscula,  pp.  49,  107,  115). 

3  Jordanus,  nr.  21-23,  n-  43- 


212  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

whom  Caesarius  wrote  that  they  could  come  to  the  Chapter  in 
Speyer  if  they  wanted  to,  or  could  let  it  go  if  they  wanted  to. 
As  the  Brothers  did  not  want  to  have  any  desire  of  their  own, 
they  were  troubled  at  this  behest,  and  went  to  Speyer  to  find 
out  what  Caesarius  had  meant  in  sending  such  a  vague  order.1 
When  all  the  Brothers  at  the  Chapter  of  Mats  had  been 
distributed  —  some  to  the  Italian  provinces  or  to  missions  — 
one  Brother  stayed  back,  whom  no  one  knew  and  whom  no 
one  seemed  to  trouble  himself  about.  He  had  come  to  the 
Chapter  with  the  Brothers  from  Messina,  who  too  knew 
nothing  of  him,  except  that  he  was  apparently  a  new  member 
of  the  Order,  that  his  name  was  Anthony,  that  he  had  a  home 
in  Portugal,  and  on  the  way  home  from  Morocco  had  been 
blown  out  of  his  course  way  over  to  Sicily.  At  last  the 
unknown  Brother  approached  the  Superior  of  the  province 
of  Romagna,  Brother  Gratian,  and  asked  if  he  could  follow 
him.  "  Are  you  a  priest?  "  "Yes!"  On  hearing  this  answer, 
Gratian  asked  Elias  for  the  unknown  Brother,  for  at  this  early 
time  priests  were  few  among  the  Brothers.  Anthony  fol- 
lowed his  new  superior  to  Romagna,  where  he  withdrew  to  the 
hermitage  of  Monte  Paolo,  in  the  vicinity  of  Forli.  The  lonely 
life  of  penance  and  prayer  he  led  there  he  was  later  to  leave 
and  to  become  the  great  preacher  to  the  people  whom  the 
Church  has  canonized  under  the  name  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua.2 

1  Jordanus,  n.  27. 

2  This  disciple  of  Francis,  in  modern  times  perhaps  the  most  famous,  was 
born  in  Lisbon  in  the  year  1195.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  Augus- 
tinian  convent  Santo  Vicente  de  Fora  in  his  native  city  and  thence  was  soon 
transferred  to  the  celebrated  convent  of  Santa  Cruz  in  the  university  city 
Coimbra.  Here  he  studied,  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood,  and  then  in 
1220  was  attracted  to  the  Franciscans,  probably  in  consequence  of  what  he  had 
heard  of  the  five  martyrs  of  Morocco  already  spoken  of.  With  the  permission 
of  his  superiors  in  the  Order  he  went  over  to  the  other  Order  and  was  received 
in  S.  Antonio  d'Olivares  in  Coimbra.  Hence  he  went  to  Morocco  to  become  a 
martyr.  As  he  failed  in  this  —  Abu  Jacob  seems  to  have  become  again  indif- 
ferent —  he  wanted  to  return  again  to  his  own  country,  but  instead  came  to 
Sicily  and  thence  to  the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  122 1.  Of  his  relation  to  the  Order 
we  will  speak  later.  All  the  sources  for  Anthony's  biography  are  found  up  to 
1904  collected  in  Leon  de  Kerval's  excellent  book:  "Sancti  Antonii  de  Padua 
Vitae  duae  quarum  altera  hucusque  inedita,"  which  contains  much  more  than 
the  title  promises.  The  work  constitutes  Volume  V  of  Sabatier's  Collection 
oV etudes.  See  also  Albert  Lepitre:  St.  Antoine  de  Padoue  (4th  ed.,  Paris,  1905), 
and  Lempp  in  "Zeitschr.  f.  Kgsch.,"  Vols.  XI-XIII  (1889-1892). 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  RULES  AND  ADMONITIONS 

CyESARIUS  of  Speier  did  not  at  once  go  to  Germany 
with  his  Brothers.  Francis  had  asked  him  to  assist 
him  in  writing  the  Rules  of  the  Order,  and  Csesa- 
rius  also  wished  before  his  departure  to  spend  some 
time  with  Francis  —  it  was  so  uncertain  if  they  ever  again 
would  see  each  other.  For  one  and  the  other  of  these  reasons 
Caesarius  remained  three  months  with  Francis  in  the  valley 
of  Spoleto,  as  well  as  at  Portiuncula  and  up  in  Carceri.1 

The  first  Rule,  which  Francis  wrote  at  Rivo  Tor  to,  was 
quite  short  and  simple.  "  I  had  it  written  with  few  and  simple 
words,  and  our  Lord  the  Pope  confirmed  it  for  me,"  says 
Francis  in  his  Testament.  With  this  all  the  burden  of  testi- 
mony of  the  first  biographers  agrees.2  A  great  part  of  this 
first  Rule  was  made  up  of  extracts  from  the  Bible  put  to- 
gether —  first  and  foremost  from  Matthew  x.  9-10,  xix. 
21,    xvi.    24,   and  Luke   ix.    3.    Thence    comes    the    name 

1  It  is  Jordanus  of  Giano  who  in  clearly  put  words  says  this.  The  two 
following  extracts  can  be  compared:  "Et  videns  beatus  Franciscus  fratrem 
Caesarium  sacris  litteris  eruditum,  ipsi  commisit,  ut  regulam,  quam  ipse 
simplicibus  verbis  conceperat,  verbis  Evangelii  adornaret.  Quod  et  fecit" 
(n.  15);  and  "His  ergo"  [fratribus]  "f rater  Caesarius  assumptis,  quia  ipsemet, 
utpote  homo  devotus,  beatum  Franciscum  et  alios  sanctos  fratres  invitus 
deseruit,  de  licentia  beati  Francisci  socios  sibi  datos  per  domos  in  Lombardia 
divisit,  ut  in  illis  verbum  suum  expectarent.  Ipse  vero  in  Valle  Spoletana 
moram  fecit  fere  per  tres  menses"  (n.  19).  This  alone  is  enough  to  prove  the 
impossibility  of  what  Karl  M  uller  ("  Anfange"  p.  13)  and  following  him  Saba- 
tier,  Lempp,  and  Schniirer  have  maintained,  that  Francis  at  the  Pentecost 
Chapter  of  1221  "laid  before  them  the  edition  of  the  Rule,  which  he  with  the 
help  of  Caesarius  of  Speier  had  worked  out."  (Schniirer:  "Franz  von  Assist," 
p.  99.)  If  this  were  so,  Jordanus  would  certainly  have  told  of  it.  But  this 
mutual  work  began  after  the  Chapter  in  question. 

2  For  the  Testament,  see  Opusc,  p.  79;  Bohmer,  p.  37.  For  testimony  of 
biographers,  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  c.  XIII;  Julian,  in  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  588,  n.  226; 
Bonav.,  Ill,  8. 

213 


214  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Francis  liked  to  use  instead  of  the  word  "  Rule  " — forma  sancti 
Evangelii,  "the  form  of  the  Holy  Gospel."  In  a  few  words, 
to  observe  the  gospel  was  what  he  desired. 

We  have  no  longer  this  first  Franciscan  Rule,  and  of  the 
ingenious  attempts  which  have  been  made  in  the  most  recent 
times  to  recover  it,  none  have  succeeded.  But  these  attempts 
were  undertaken  from  a  correct  standpoint;  namely,  that 
we  undoubtedly  have  in  the  so-called  Regula  prima  (generally 
called  after  Karl  Miiller  "the  Rule  of  1221")  the  original 
Rule  of  the  Order,  with  additions  and  buried  under  a  quantity 
of  later  additions,  alterations  and  expansions.1 

A  suggestion  of  how  the  development  went  can  be  obtained 
from  Jacques  de  Vitry's  description  of  the  Franciscan  Chapter 
gatherings.  Here  he  tells  how  the  Brothers  came  together 
at  these  meetings,  and  "with  the  support  of  good  men,  wrote 
and  promulgated  good  regulations."  2  But  the  good  men 
who  stood  by  the  Brothers  were  undoubtedly  cardinals;  the 
closer  relations  between  them  and  Francis  were  formed  in  the 
summer  of  12 16,  when  Jacques  was  still  in  the  Papal  Court. 
And  moreover  the  accounts  compare  well  with  what  we  know 
from  other  sources,  that  "the  Brothers  came  together  at 
Pentecost  at  Portiuncula  and  consulted  as  to  how  they  best 
should  maintain  the  Rule."  3 

Francis  naturally  had  a  deciding  voice  in  these  discussions. 
"St.  Francis,"  the  authority  just  cited  says,  "admonished, 
censured  and  commanded  as  it  seemed  good  to  him  in  the 
Lord."  If  we  have  the  Latin  text  at  this  place  before  us,  the 
meaning  is  still  clearer.  It  there  is  written  faciebat  admo- 
nitiones,  reprehensiones  et  praecepta  —  "he  made  admonitions, 
reprehensions  and  precepts."  But  among  the  writings  of 
Francis  of  Assisi  we  have  one  entire  collection  remaining, 
which  bears  the  title  of  Admonitiones*    If  we  wish  to  find 

1  Karl  Muller's  first  attempt  at  reconstruction  in  " Die  Anfange"  pp.  185-188, 
and  another  in  "Theolog.  Litt.  Zeitg.,"  1805,  pp.  182  et  seq.,  are  too  elaborate. 
Bohmer,  in  "Analekten"  pp.  88-89,  has  attempted  to  produce  a  briefer  recon- 
stitution  of  the  primitive  Rule. 

2  "consilio  bonorum  virorum  suas  faciunt  et  promulgant  institutiones  sanc- 
tas."     Bohmer's  "Analekten"  p.  98. 

1  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XIV,  p.  80,  Amoni's  ed. 
4  In  Bohmer,  pp.  40-49. 


THE     RULES     AND     ADMONITIONS         215 

the  first  additions  to  the  original  Rule,  it  is  here  we  should 
look.  The  superscription  tells  as  much:  "In  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These 
are  the  holy  words  of  advice  of  our  honored  father  St.  Francis 
to  all  the  Brothers." 

In  these  Admonitiones  we  find  what  Thomas  of  Celano, 
where  he  speaks  of  the  Rule,  calls  "some  few  additional  com- 
mands, which  are  entirely  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  a  holy 
conversion."  l    They  contain  the  following: 

I.  "On  the  Lord's  body."  The  first  thing  Francis  thought 
of  enforcing  upon  his  disciples  and  of  placing  deep  within  their 
hearts  was  to  have  great  reverence  and  great  love  for  the 
God  revealed  to  the  eye  of  faith  in  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

II.  "On  the  sinfulness  of  self-will."  It  is  self-will  that 
leads  to  falling  into  sin. 

III.  "On  perfect  obedience."  He  who  does  not  renounce 
all  things,  even  his  own  will,  cannot  be  a  disciple  of  Jesus. 

IV.  "That  no  one  should  strive  after  command."  It  is 
better  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  Brothers,  than  to  rule  over 
them. 

V.  "That  no  one  should  be  exalted,  but  should  glory  in 
the  Cross  of  the  Lord."  The  same  order  of  thought  that  is 
developed  later  at  length  in  the  celebrated  eighth  chapter  of 
the  Fioretti  (see  pp.  n  7-1 21). 

VI.  "On  following  after  the  Lord."  "We  wish  to  be 
called  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  but  we  should  be  ashamed, 
because  the  saints  have  done  great  things,  and  we  wish  to  be 
honored  and  esteemed,  only  because  we  tell  of  them  and 
preach  about  them." 

VII.  "That  wisdom  must  be  followed  by  work."  That 
wisdom  only  has  value  which  leads  to  good  works  —  a  thought 
to  which  Francis  constantly  returns. 

VIII.  "To  envy  no  one,"  especially  to  envy  no  one  the 
good  which  God  works  in  his  soul. 

IX.  "On   charity."     He  has   really   charity   towards   his 

1  Celano,  V.  pr.,  I,  c.  XIII:  " beatus  Franciscus  .  .  .  scripsit  .  .  .  simpliciter 
et  paucis  verbis  vitae  formam  et  regulam,  sancti  evangelii  praecipue  sermonibus 
utens,  ad  cujus  perfectionem  solummodo  inhiabat.  Pauca  tamen  alia  inseruit, 
quae  omnino  ad  conversationis  sanctae  usum  necessaria  inveniebat." 


2l6  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

enemies  who,  when  he  suffers  injustice,  thinks  first  of  all  of 
the  harm  the  unjust  one  has  done  his  own  soul. 

X.  "To  hold  the  body  in  subjection."  There  is  an  enemy 
we  ought  not  to  love,  and  that  is  the  body.  And  if  we  vigor- 
ously and  ceaselessly  fight  this  enemy,  then  no  other  enemy, 
spiritual  or  material,  can  hurt  us. 

XI.  "Do  not  participate  in  the  effects  of  another's  sin." 
By  paying  evil  with  evil,  one  takes  the  effects  of  a  sin  upon 
his  own  soul. 

XII.  "On  signs  of  the  Lord's  spirit."  The  better  a  man 
really  is,  the  worse  he  feels  himself  to  be. 

XIII.  "On  patience."  One  first  sees  how  great  his  pa- 
tience really  is  when  he  has  cause  to  be  impatient. 

XIV.  "On  poverty  of  spirit."  Poverty  of  spirit  is  not  in 
much  fasting  and  penance,  but  in  turning  the  left  cheek  to 
him  who  has  struck  the  right  one. 

XV.  "On  peace."    Blessed  are  the  peaceful! 

XVI.  "On  purity  of  heart."  He  is  pure  of  heart  who 
despises  the  world,  seeks  heaven,  and  always  has  the  Lord 
his  God  before  his  eyes. 

XVII.  "On  being  an  humble  servant  of  God"  and  not  to 
demand  more  of  one's  neighbor  than  one  is  willing  to  grant 
to  God. 

XVIII.  "On  sympathy  with  our  neighbor."  Blessed  he 
who  bears  with  his  frailties,  as  his  neighbor  has  also  to 
endure  his. 

XIX.  "Of  a  good  servant  of  God."  Blessed  he  who  does 
not  look  upon  himself  as  better  or  greater  when  he  is  exalted 
and  honored  by  men  than  when  he  is  scorned  and  despised 
by  them  and  is  degraded  by  them,  for  a  man  is  what  he  is 
in  God's  eyes,  and  no  more. 

XX.  "On  the  good  and  bad  Brother  of  the  Order.  Blessed 
the  Brother  whose  whole  joy  is  in  doing  the  work  of  God  and 
in  speaking  of  God,  and  who  thereby  leads  men  to  love  God 
in  peace  and  joy. 

XXI.  "On  the  empty  and  gossiping  Brother  of  the  Order." 
Woe  to  the  Brother  whose  joy  it  is  to  make  people  laugh  with 
empty  and  vain  talk,  and  who  in  his  actions  does  not  corre- 
spond with  the  grace  he  has  received  from  God. 


THE    RULES     AND     ADMONITIONS  217 

XXII.  "On  correction."  Blessed  the  Brother  who  is  not 
eager  to  excuse  himself,  but  who  in  humility  is  willing  to  be 
shamed  and  blamed,  even  if  he  has  done  nothing. 

XXIII.  "On  humility."  Blessed  the  Brother  who  is  as 
humble  to  those  who  are  under  him  as  to  his  superior. 

XXIV.  "On  real  charity."  Blessed  the  servant  of  God 
who  loves  his  Brother  as  much  when  the  Brother  is  sick  and 
depends  on  him  as  when  the  Brother  is  well  and  can  be  of  use 
and  pleasure  to  him. 

XXV.  And  blessed  the  servant  of  God  who  loves  and  fears 
his  Brother  as  much  when  he  is  away  from  him  as  when  he  is 
near  him,  and  says  nothing  behind  his  back  which  he  could 
not  in  charity  let  him  hear. 

XXVI.  "That  God's  servants  ought  to  honor  clerics." 
Blessed  the  servant  of  God  who  has  faith  in  the  clerics,  who 
live  after  the  law  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church.  And  woe  to 
those  who  despise  them !  Even  if  they  are  sinners,  no  one 
should  condemn  them,  for  they  have  power  over  the  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

XXVII.  "On  virtues,  that  put  vices  to  flight."  This  is 
the  laud  in  honor  of  all  virtues  already  given  (p.  177). 

XXVIII.  "Not  to  boast  of  your  virtue."  God  sees  our 
secret  thoughts,  for  him  alone  we  shall  do  all  things,  and  thus 
accumulate  for  ourselves  treasures  in  heaven. 

Haec  sunt  documenta  pii  patris  one  can  say  in  the  words 
of  Thomas  of  Celano  after  having  gone  through  these  twenty- 
eight  short  chapters  —  "with  these  prescripts  the  pious  father 
moulded  his  new  sons."  l  Francis  was  certainly  a  remark- 
able "Master  of  Novices,"  as  the  technical  expression  of  the 
convent  has  it,  but  these  religious  psychological  aphorisms, 
often  wonderfully  fine,  remind  us  but  little  of  the  Rule  of  an 
Order. 

Of  Francis'  way  of  writing  such  a  Rule  we  have,  on  the 
other  hand,  an  idea  through  a  little  piece  of  regulation,  which 
undoubtedly  comes  entirely  from  his  own  hand.  "In  the 
early  days  of  the  Order,  when  there  were  few  Brothers  and 
when  there  was  no  regular  convent,"  2  the  members  of  the 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  cap.  XV,  n.  41.    Bonav.,  IV,  3. 

2  Fioretti,  cap.  4. 


2l8  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Order  spent  most  of  their  time  on  missionary  journeys  and 
took  shelter  where  they  could  find  it.  At  intervals  they 
wished  to  withdraw  into  solitude  to  pray  in  peace  and 
strengthen  the  soul  for  new  apostolic  efficiency,  as  they,  after 
the  Master's  example,  "  talked  over  with  themselves  what  they 
preached  to  others."  l  In  this  way  originated  the  first  Fran- 
ciscan "  convents,"  but  which  were  only  ill-adapted  to  bear 
this  honored  name.  At  Portiuncula  the  " convent"  was  a 
collection  of  huts  surrounded  by  a  hedge;  in  Carceri  it  was 
a  few  caves;  at  Fonte  Colombo  and  Mount  Alverna  it  was 
the  same,  and  time  after  time  in  the  Fioretti  we  are  brought 
round  to  these  "little  convents  where  the  Brothers  had  only 
huts  of  leaves  to  sleep  in."  2  Neither  was  the  word  claustrum 
used  in  speaking  of  the  Franciscan  abiding-places;  Brother 
Jordanus,  as  we  have  seen,  was  greatly  perplexed  when  in 
Erfurt  it  was  proposed  to  build  him  a  convent.  Such  a 
Franciscan  habitation  was  called  simply  a  " place"  (locus), 
a  hermitage  (eretno,  erimitorium),  a,  retreat  (ritiro).  And 
for  the  Brothers,  who  for  a  period  of  time  wanted  to  stay  in 
such  a  hermitage,  Francis  now  wrote  the  following  Rule,  or 
rather  regulations,  which  is  the  more  valuable  because  it 
undoubtedly  comes  in  its  entirety  from  his  own  hand,  without 
the  assistance  of  Cardinal  Hugolin  or  of  Brother  Csesarius. 
It  is  here  given  in  full : 3 

De  Religosa  Habitatione  in  Eremo. 
"On  Pious  Living  in  a  Hermitage." 

"Those  who  wish  to  live  piously  in  a  hermitage  must  be  three 
or  at  most  four  Brothers.  Two  of  them  shall  be  mothers 
and  shall  have  the  other  two  for  sons  or  the  one.  But  the 
mothers  shall  lead  the  life  of  Martha  and  the  others  the  life 
of  Mary.4 

"The  two  who  are  mothers  shall  lead  the  life  of  Martha 
and  the  two  sons  shall  lead  the  life  of  Mary  and  shall  have 

1  Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  XV,  n.  36. 

2  Fior.,c.  17. 

3  Bohmer:  "Analekten,"  pp.  67-68.  The  text  in  Quaracchi  edition  (Opusc, 
pp.  83-84)  is  less  explicit. 

4  Naturally  a  reference  to  the  two  sisters  in  Bethania. 


THE     RULES     AND     ADMONITIONS         219 

an  enclosure  with  a  cell,  where  they  can  pray  and  sleep. 
And  as  soon  as  the  sun  has  set,  they  shall  pray  the  Com- 
pline and  try  to  maintain  silence,  but  at  Matins  they  shall 
get  up  and  say  their  Hours  and  'seek  first  for  God's  king- 
dom and  His  justice.'  And  at  the  proper  time  they  shall 
pray  the  Primes,  and  after  the  Trines  they  can  break  the 
silence  and  go  to  their  mothers,  and,  if  they  wish,  can  beg  an 
alms  of  them  like  other  poor  people  for  God's  sake.  And 
later  they  shall  pray  the  Sext  and  Nones,  and  say  Vespers  at 
a  suitable  time. 

"  And  they  must  permit  no  one  to  enter  the  enclosure  where 
they  are,  and  no  one  must  eat  there  either.  The  Brothers 
who  are  mothers  shall  keep  themselves  away  from  all  men, 
and,  as  their  Superior  has  told  them,  guard  their  sons  from  all 
men,  so  that  no  one  can  speak  to  them.  And  the  sons  must 
not  talk  with  anyone  except  their  mothers  and  with  their 
Superior,  if  he  with  God's  blessing  visits  them.  But  the  sons 
shall  take  over  the  mothers'  task,  when  they  find  it  mutually 
good,  and  busy  themselves  to  carry  out  exactly  all  that  has 
been  said  before." 

This  was  a  Rule  such  as  Francis  was  able  to  write.  How 
graceful  is  the  picture  of  the  Brothers,  who  live  together  up 
in  the  mountain  wilderness  of  Fonte  Colombo  or  on  Monte 
Subasio,  and  of  which  the  two,  like  Martha  in  the  gospel, 
must  look  out  for  the  temporal  things,  while  the  other  two, 
like  Mary,  have  permission  to  sit  at  the  Lord's  feet!  And 
when  it  gets  to  be  midday,  then  the  two  who  had  chosen  the 
better  part  come  and  beg  well  and  modestly  for  food  —  like 
polite  children  asking  it  of  their  good  mother.1 

Besides  the  short,  original  Rule  of  12 10  and  the  Rule  for 
hermitages,  we  hear  further  talk  of  a  special  Rule,  valid  for 
Portiuncula.  This  is  preserved  in  Chapter  55  of  the  Speculum 
perfectionis  and  recalls  the  Rule  for  hermits;  thus  we  find  it 

1  "dico  tibi,  fili  mi,  sicut  mater"  Francis  writes  to  his  favorite  disciple  Brother 
Leo,  with  whom  he  had  staid  so  often  in  the  hermitages  (Bohmer,  p.  68). 
And  of  Brother  Elias  we  find  in  Thomas  of  Celano  {Vita  pr.,  II,  cap.  IV,  n.  98) : 
"frater  Helias  .  .  .  quem  loco  matris  elegerat  sibi  (Francisco)."  Compare 
Celano,  Vita  sec,  III,  99:  "dixit  Pacificus  s.  Francisco:  Benedic  nobis,  mater 
carissima;"  III,  113  (II,  136,  d'AL).  The  complaint  is  later  made  that  many 
"eremiticum  ritum"  "convertunt  in  otium." 


220  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

forbidden  for  strangers  to  enter  the  place.  No  worldly  talk 
and  no  superfluous  word  must  be  heard  in  Portiuncula;  the 
Brothers  there  shall  be  chosen  from  the  best  and  most  pious 
in  the  whole  Order,  and  shall  edify  all  by  the  exemplary 
recitation  of  their  office.  "And  in  this  place  nothing  shall 
happen  or  be  spoken  that  is  useless,  but  the  whole  place  shall 
be  kept  pure  and  holy  in  hymns  and  songs  of  praise."  For 
the  infringement  of  these  regulations  —  as  it  is  given  later 
in  the  same  book,  Chapter  82  —  the  offender  is  obliged  to  say 
a  Pater  noster  along  with  the  prayer  composed  by  Francis, 
Laudes  Dei. 

Francis'  work  as  lawgiver  was  only  occasional.  At  a 
Chapter  it  was  told  him  that  many  of  the  Brothers  tormented 
themselves  with  penitential  shirts,  iron  rings  and  the  like  on 
the  naked  body.  He  forbade  at  once  the  use  of  such  ascetic 
things  by  the  Brothers.1  Another  time  he  had  the  following 
regulation  put  into  writing:  "Let  the  Brothers  take  care 
that  they  do  not  present  the  appearance  of  hypocrites,  with 
dark  and  cast-down  mien,  but  that  they  show  themselves 
glad  in  the  Lord,  cheerful  and  worthy  of  love,  and  agreeable."  2 
This  place  is  found  in  the  existing  Regula  prima,  Chapter  7, 
and  in  the  Speculum  there  is  cited  another  regulation,  which 
we  may  safely  read  in  the  text  of  those  we  still  possess.3  The 
last  chapter  in  the  Regula  prima  has  as  title  Admonitio 
Jratrum. 

If  in  the  Rivo  Torto  Rule  is  to  be  found  the  basis  for  the 
whole  code  of  laws,  so  are  these  occasional  regulations  and  the 
admonitions  promulgated  at  Chapters  to  be  regarded  as  the 
first  framework.  And  others  were  built  upon  them,  each  as 
time  or  occasion  required.  In  1217  the  great  Franciscan 
missions  began;  to  this  period  are  certainly  to  be  ascribed 
chapters  such  as  the  14th  and  16th  in  the  Regula  prima, 
"How  the  Brothers  ought  to  go  through  the  world"  and 
"Of  those  who  go  to  the  Saracens  and  other  heathen."     This 


1  Spec.  perf.  (ed.  Sab.),  p.  56. 

2  "pro  generali  commonitione  in  quodam  capitulo  scribi  fecit  haec  verba." 
Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  68. 

3  Spec.  perf. ,  cap.  96,  p.  189  =  Adm.  XX  in  Bohmer,  XXI  in  Quaracchi 
edition. 


THE     RULES     AND     ADMONITIONS         22l 

sort  of  farewell  admonition  has  been  preserved  for  us  in 
several  examples  by  Francis'  biographer  —  see  for  example 
in  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  Chapter  65,  "Admonition  to  de- 
parting Brothers";  as  well  as  several  extracts  from  the  Rules, 
beginning  with  the  words  In  nomine  Domini,  "In  the  name  of 
the  Lord,"  the  usual  formula  with  which  in  those  days  every 
official  paper  began.1 

That  these  admonitions,  which  later,  when  the  Order  de- 
veloped, came  to  have  a  larger  and  larger  scope,  were  written 
out,  we  can  rest  assured.  They  had  all  of  them  a  very  prac- 
tical object,  which  was  something  Francis  wished  the  Brothers 
to  observe  and  be  guided  by.  We  see  how  explicit  he  is  in 
his  later  letters  that  the  Brothers  should,  by  copying,  have 
them  in  manifold,  and  each  possess  a  copy  in  his  Breviary 
along  with  him,  "the  better  to  follow  them."2 

If  we  want  to  understand  what  the  co-operation  of  Francis 
and  Cassarius  in  the  summer  of  1221  in  preparing  the  Rule 
of  the  Order  was,  we  must  recollect  that  they,  excepting 
the  original  Rule  of  12 10  —  had  before  them  the  collection  of 
all  the  Admonitions  and  Regulations.  Out  of  this  material 
they  were  to  put  together  a  new  Rule  of  the  Order.3  In 
reality  they,  for  the  time  being,  were  content  to  link  together 
old  and  new,  often  without  sequence,  and  so  did  this  collec- 
tion, or  better  this  selection,  of  valid  Regulations  result, 
which  the  older  investigators  call  Regula  prima,  the  newer 
ones  "Rule  of  1221,"  but  which  in  no  sense  has  been  accepted 
as  the  Rule  of  the  Order. 

Without  wishing  to  go  into  details,  like  Karl  Miiller  or 

1  Spec.  perf.  (Sabatier),  p.  120.     Reg.  prima,  capp.  IV,  XXIV. 

2  "Hoc  scriptum,  ut  melius  debeat  observari,  habeas  tecum  usque  ad  Pente- 
costal." Francis'  letter  of  1223  to  Elias  (Opuscula,  p.  no).  Bohmer 
(" Analekten,"  p.  XXXVI)  has  collected  a  quantity  of  references  which  show 
Francis'  care  in  this  regard. 

3  The  dream  Francis  had  at  this  time  proves  this.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
all  the  Brothers  stood  around  him  and  were  hungry,  and  that  he  had  nothing 
but  a  quantity  of  crumbs  that  escaped  from  his  fingers.  "  Francis,"  a  voice 
then  said,  "knead  all  these  crumbs  together  into  a  host  and  give  that  to  the 
Brothers."  This  dream  he  explained  the  next  morning  to  the  effect  that  the 
crumbs  indicated  verba  evangelica,  the  host  indicated  the  Rule  which  was  to 
be  formed  out  of  them.  (Bonav.,  Leg.  Major,  IV,  n.  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  159, 
d'Al.) 


222  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Boehmer,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  form  a  general  understand- 
ing of  what  part  of  this  great  collection  of  material  comes  from 
the  original  Rule,  and  of  what  are  additions  of  a  later  period. 
Out  of  the  Rivo  Torto  Rule,  besides  the  introduction  (Francis 
promises  obedience  to  Pope  Innocent)  the  following  portions 
undoubtedly  came:  Chapter  I  (of  the  three  vows  of  the  Order: 
obedience,  poverty,  chastity),  Chapter  II  (of  the  Brothers' 
reception  and  habit),  Chapter  III  (of  the  Office  and  fasts), 
Chapter  VII  (of  how  the  Brothers  are  to  work  and  pray), 
Chapters  VIII  and  IX  (on  not  caring  for  money,  on  begging 
when  it  is  necessary)  Chapter  XII  (on  avoiding  women),  Chap- 
ter XIV  (on  neither  travelling  nor  sitting  down  with  evil 
people),  Chapter  XIX  (on  reverence  for  priests).  These 
chapters  may  have  been  differently  arranged  in  the  original 
Rule,  but  the  meaning  has  been  the  same.  The  regulations 
for  fasting  seem  to  have  been  severer  originally,  than  as 
preserved  in  the  Regula  prima.1 

As  later  additions  to  the  fundamental  rules  we  must  look 
upon  the  fourth  chapter  with  the  statutory  beginning  In 
nomine  Domini;  this  treats  besides  of  the  ministers  and  of 
the  duty  of  obedience  of  the  Brothers  to  them,  and  must  date 
from  the  Chapter-meeting,  in  which  the  first  ministers  were 
installed  and  the  first  division  of  provinces  was  arranged  for. 
Some  other  chapters  agree  also  with  the  Admonitions  which 
are  in  existence;  thus  Chapter  V  and  the  fourth  and  eleventh 
Admonitions  may  be  located,  and  Chapter  XXII  and  the 
ninth  and  tenth  Admonitions.  A  " Reminder"  as  referred 
to  by  Thomas  of  Celano  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  existing  col- 
lection of  Admonitions;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  in  the  Regula 
prima,  where  it  is  found  in  the  eighteenth  chapter.2 

A  third  element  in  the  Regula  prima  consists  finally  of  what 
we  may  call  religious  poetry.  To  this  belong  first  of  all  the 
Lauds  or  Songs  of  Praise  already  spoken  of  (p.  69),  which 

1  Reg.  prima  prescribed  only  one  weekly  fast :  Friday.  (Bohmer,  p.  4.)  If 
Jordanus  is  to  be  believed  (Anal.  Fr.,  I,  4,  n.  11),  there  were  in  the  original 
Rule  two  fast  days  in  the  week,  namely  Friday  and  Wednesday  also.  With 
special  permission  of  Francis,  the  Brothers  who  wished  to  do  so  could  also  fast 
on  Mondays  and  Thursdays. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  III,  68.  There  is  also  an  Admonition  addressed  to  the  sick 
in  cap.  X  of  Regula  prima,  in  Speculum  perfectionis ,  cap.  42. 


THE    RULES     AND     ADMONITIONS         223 

Francis  offered  to  his  Brothers  for  singing  in  the  towns  as  the 
Good  God's  Musicians,  and  where  we  find  a  rhythm  that 
reminds  us  of  the  later  Sun  Song.1  What  Francis  desired 
first  of  all  was  to  inspire  men  for  God.  And  after  finally  a 
last  Admonitio  fratrum  —  the  old  name  is  here  kept  in  the  title 
of  the  chapter  —  his  and  Caesarius  of  Speier's  work  breaks 
forth  in  a  great,  swelling  Song  of  Praise,  that  rises  and  rises 
irresistibly  like  a  stronger  and  stronger  flowing  organ  sound, 
and  never  stops  until  the  highest  summits  are  reached  — 
there  where  all  human  speech  must  cease,  all  human  thought 
must  fail,  and  nothing  remain  except  the  angels'  Sanctus, 
Sanctus,  Sanctus  and  ceaseless  Alleluia  of  the  happy  souls.  It 
is  thus  the  last  Chapter  sounds: 

"Prayer,  Song  of  Praise  and  Thanksgiving. 

"  Almighty,  highest  and  Supreme  God,  holy  and  just  Father, 
Lord  and  King  of  the  Heavens  and  Earth,  we  thank  thee  for 
thy  own  sake,  because  thou  by  thy  holy  will  and  by  thy  only 
begotten  Son  with  the  Holy  Ghost  hast  created  all  spiritual  and 
material  things  and  us  in  thy  form  and  likeness,  and  thou 
didst  place  us  in  paradise.  But  we  fell  through  our  own  fault. 
And  we  thank  thee,  because  thou,  as  thou  didst  create,  us 
through  thy  Son,  thus  also  through  the  true,  holy  charity, 
wherewith  thou  lovedst  us,  let  him  be  born,  true  God  and 
true  Man,  of  the  ever  virginal,  holiest  Virgin  Mary  and  through 
his  cross  and  blood  and  death  thou  didst  wish  to  free  us  poor 
prisoners.  And  we  thank  thee,  because  the  same  One,  thy 
Son,  shall  return  in  the  glory  of  his  majesty  and  send  the 
damned,  who  have  not  converted  themselves  and  knew  thee 
not,  into  everlasting  fire,  and  will  say  to  all  who  have  known 
thee  and  prayed  to  thee  and  served  thee  in  conversion: 
'  Come  here,  the  blessed  of  my  Father,  and  inherit  the  riches 
which  have  been  prepared  for  you  even  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world ! ' 

"And  because  all  we  poor  sinners  are  not  worthy  to  name 

1  "Beati  qui  moriuntur  in  penitentia  quia  erunt  in  regno  coelorum. 

"Ve  illis,  qui  non  moriuntur  in  penitentia,  quia  erunt  filii  diaboli  .  .  .  et 
ibunt  in  ignem  eternum."     (Reg.  pr.,  cap.  XXI.     Bohmer,  p.  19.) 

"Guai  acquelli  ke  morrano  ne  le  peccata  mortali.  Beati  quelli  ke  trovarane 
le  tue  sanctissime  voluntati,  ka  la  morte  secunda  nol  farra  male."  (Canticum 
fratris  solis;  Bohmer,  p.  66.) 


224  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

thee,  so  do  we  pray  and  implore  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
thy  beloved  Son,  in  whom  thou  art  well  pleased,  together 
with  the  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost,  will  thank  thee  for  all 
the  great  things  Thou  hast  done  to  us  through  Him,  Alleluia. 
And  we  humbly  implore  the  most  blessed  Mother  and  Virgin 
Mary,  the  blessed  Michael,  Gabriel,  Raphael  and  all  the  rest 
of  the  choir  of  holy  spirits,  Seraphim  and  Cherubim,  Thrones, 
Dominations,  Principalities,  Powers  and  Mights,  Angels  and 
Archangels,  the  blessed  John  the  Baptist,  John  the  Evangel- 
ist, Peter,  Paul  and  the  Blessed  Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  the 
Holy  Innocents,  the  Apostles,  Evangelists,  Disciples,  Martyrs, 
Confessors,  Virgins,  the  blessed  Elias  and  Enoch  and  all  the 
Saints,  that  have  been  or  are  to  come,  that  they  out  of  love  to 
thee  and  as  it  pleases  thee  shall  bear  our  thanks  to  thee, 
thou  highest  true,  everlasting  and  living  God,  with  thy  Son, 
our  dear  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Comforter  the  Holy  Ghost 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen.     Alleluia. 

"And  we  Friars  Minor,  we  useless  servants,  beg  and  pray 
thee  all  humbly,  who  in  the  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church  wish  to  serve  the  Lord  God,  all  who  are  in  orders,  all 
priests,  deacons,  subdeacons,  acolytes,  exorcisers,  lectors, 
ostiairs,  and  all  the  clerics,  all  monks  and  all  nuns,  all  children, 
all  women  and  maidens,  all  poor  and  needy,  kings  and  princes, 
laborers,  peasants,  servants  and  masters,  all  virgins,  all  con- 
tinent and  all  married,  all  lay-people,  men  and  women,  all  infants, 
children,  young  and  old,  well  and  sick,  all  large  and  small  and 
all  kinds  of  people,  races  and  languages,  all  nations  and  all  men 
everywhere,  who  are  now  or  are  to  be,  we  pray  them  all  humbly 
that  they  will  persevere  in  the  true  faith  and  conversion,  for 
otherwise  they  cannot  be  saved.  Let  us  all  with  all  our  heart, 
with  all  our  soul,  with  all  our  mind,  with  all  our  strength  and 
power,  with  all  our  reason  and  all  our  dispositions,  all  our 
striving,  all  our  love,  all  our  inner  self,  all  our  desire  and  will 
love  the  Lord  our  God,  who  has  given  us  all  of  our  body,  all 
of  our  soul  and  all  of  our  life,  he  who  has  created  us  and  re- 
deemed us,  and  out  of  pure  mercy  wishes  to  save  us,  he  who 
has  given  and  daily  gives  all  good  to  us  poor,  corrupted,  putrid, 
thankless  and  evil  things. 

"Let  us  therefore  seek  nothing  else,  wish  for  nothing  else, 


THE     RULES     AND     ADMONITIONS         225 

rejoice  and  be  pleased  with  nothing  else  than  our  Creator  and 
Redeemer  and  Saviour,  the  one,  true  God,  who  is  the  perfect 
good,  all  good,  the  whole  good,  the  true  and  highest  good,  he 
who  alone  is  good,  pious  and  mild,  happy  and  loving,  he  who 
alone  is  holy,  just,  true  and  righteous,  who  alone  is  good,  inno- 
cent and  pure,  from  whom  and  with  whom  and  in  whom  are 
all  pardon,  all  grace,  all  glory  for  all  penitents,  all  just  men, 
all  the  blest  in  Heaven.  May  nothing  restrain  us  therefore, 
nothing  separate  us,  nothing  drive  us  from  him.  Let  us  all 
in  all  ways,  at  every  time  and  place,  daily  and  constantly, 
truthfully  and  humbly  believe  in  God  and  keep  him  in  our 
hearts,  and  let  us  love,  honor,  beseech,  serve,  obey  and  bless, 
praise  and  glorify,  sing  praises  to  and  thank  the  highest  and 
supreme  eternal  God,  the  Threefold  and  One,  the  Father,  Son 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  Creator  of  all,  the  Saviour  of  those  who 
hope  in  him  and  love  him,  God  without  beginning  and  end, 
unchangeable,  inconceivable,  invisible,  incomprehensible,  in- 
scrutable, blessed,  glorified,  extolled,  highly  exalted,  mild, 
lovable,  dreadful,  and  worthy  to  be  loved  and  desired  always 
and  above  all  things  forever  and  ever.  Glory  be  to  the  Father, 
Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now 
and  ever  shall  be.    Amen."1 

1  Bohmer,  pp.  23-26.    Opuscula,  pp.  57-61. 


16 


CHAPTER  IX 
SAINT  FRANCIS  AND  LEARNING 

TWO  years  passed  before  the  final  Rule  of  the  Order 
was  finished.  In  September,  1221,  Csesarius  left  and 
with  his  missionaries  went  to  Germany,  and  first  on 
November  29,  1223,  Honorius  III  with  his  bull  Solet 
annuere  gave  his  ratification  to  the  Rule.  Between  these  two 
dates  lies  a  whole  series  of  events  of  which  unfortunately 
there  is  left  to  us  no  satisfactory  account,  but  during  which 
there  seems  to  have  developed  a  great  opposition  between 
Francis  on  the  one  side  and  Brother  Elias  Bombarone  and  his 
adherents  on  the  other  side.  Hugolin  in  this  dispute  had  the 
difficult  task  of  being  intermediator  and  as  far  as  possible  of 
pacifying  both  parties. 

For  in  order  to  understand  the  core  of  the  dispute  one  must 
realize  what  a  development  the  new  Order  had  experienced  in 
the  last  year. 

On  his  resignation  Francis  had  certainly  preserved  for  him- 
self a  definite  position  of  authority  —  at  the  Pentecost  Chapter 
of  122 1,  for  example,  it  was  he  who  sent  out  the  German  mis- 
sionaries, and  there  are  other  indications  that  he  always  sat 
there  with  an  authority  by  no  means  small.1  Francis  mean- 
while had  never  been  addicted  to  exercising  any  real  compul- 
sion. "He  wished  rather  to  reach  the  goal  with  the  good  than 
with  the  bad,"  says  Jordanus.  If  he  could  not  carry  through 
his  wish,  then  in  God's  name  he  did  not  wish  to  rave  and 
domineer  "like  the  powers  of  this  world."     If  he  did  not  suc- 

1  "potestatem  habetis  vos,"  his  vicar,  Pietro  dei  Cattani,  said  to  him  in  the 
Holy  Land  (Jordanus,  p.  5).  See  ditto,  pp.  7-8,  the  expressions  "nullum  ad 
ipsos  ire  compellit  frater"  (Franciscus),  "eandem  eis  obedientiam  dare  vult," 
"de  licentia  beati  Francisci." 

226 


SAINT    FRANCIS     AND     LEARNING        227 

ceed  in  making  the  Brothers  do  their  duty,  then  he  comforted 
himself  by  being  personally  doubly  dutiful.1 

Wills  more  energetic  had  full  sway  over  a  man  of  this  dis- 
position of  mind.  First  and  foremost  was  Elias  of  Bombarone, 
or  as  he  was  called  later,  Elias  of  Cortona,  a  will  of  this  stamp, 
but  behind  him  stood  others  who  supported  him  and  were  on 
his  side  against  Francis.  One  of  them  we  know  by  name  —  it 
was  Brother  Petrus  Stacia  from  Bologna.  The  others  appear 
on  the  records  only  under  the  title  " ministers,"  by  which  are 
meant  more  especially  the  Superiors  of  the  Italian  Provinces, 
or  as  the  Franciscan  expression  has  it,  ministri  of  these  prov- 
inces.2 

I  mentioned  Bologna  above,  and  in  doing  so  I  named  the 
centre  of  the  opposition  which,  within  the  Order  itself,  appeared 
against  Francis.  There  was  from  old  times  a  connection 
between  the  Franciscans  and  the  celebrated  University  town. 
As  early  as  12 12  Bernard  of  Quintavalle  had  preached  there, 
and  in  12 13  this  Friar  Minor  settled  in  a  house  which  was 
called  Le  Pugliole,  just  outside  the  Porta  Galliera.  A  number 
of  the  most  important  men  within  the  ranks  of  the  new  Order 
had  studied  in  Bologna,  among  them  Francis'  two  first  vicars, 

1  "Omnia  per  humilitatem  maluit  vincere  quam  per  judicii  potestatem." 
(Anal.  Fr.,  I,  p.  5,  n.  13.)  "nolo  carnifex  fieri .  .  .  sicut  potestates  hujus  saeculi." 
(Spec,  perf.,  cap.  71.)  "nolebat  contendere  cum  ipsis,  sed  .  .  .  volebat  in  se 
illud  implere."     (Ditto,  cap.  2.) 

2  The  whole  area  over  which  the  Order  was  distributed  was  divided  in  1223 
into  twelve  provinces;  each — following  Francis'  prohibition  of  the  word 
prior — was  subject  to  a  "servant  of  the  province"  (minister  provincialis, 
compare  Matthew  xx.  26).  The  single  provinces  were  then  divided  into  smaller 
districts  (custodiae)  under  charge  of  a  custos  or  watchman.  The  superior  of  a 
locus  (convent)  bore  a  similar  title  (guardianus) .  The  minister  of  a  province, 
for  example  of  Mark  Ancona,  had  under  him  custodes  for  the  districts  (custo- 
diae) Fermo,  Ascoli,  Camerino,  Ancona,  Jesi,  Fano,  and  Feletro.  The 
custos  for  the  custodia  of  Fermo,  so  often  mentioned  in  the  Fioretti,  had  under 
him  guardians  in  Fallerone,  Bruforte,  Soffiano,  Massa,  Penna,  Moliano;  he 
was  also  guardian  of  the  convent  of  Fermo.  At  the  head  of  the  whole  Order 
was  the  General  Minister,  a  name  which  was  abbreviated  to  "General"  (as 
the  "Provincial  Minister"  became  "Minister"),  but  he  was  still  the  "Servant 
of  the  whole  Order."  On  this  peculiarity  of  the  Franciscan  nomenclature  the 
Chronica  XXIV  generalium  says:  "omnes  professores  ejusdem"  (regulae) 
"tarn  praelatos  quam  subditos,  nominibus  evangelicis  nuncupavit."  Even  the 
designation  fratres  minorcs  (Friars  Minor,  lesser  brothers)  is  traced  to  a  place 
in  the  gospel  (Matthew  xxv.  40  and  45),  where  the  Vulgate  has  the  word 
minoribus  (in  English  "lesser"). 


228  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Pietro  dei  Cattani  and  Elias,  and  the  most  of  the  following 
Generals  of  the  Order:  Johannes  Parenti,  Aymon  of  Faver- 
sham,  Crescentius  of  Jesi,  John  of  Parma.  It  has  been  told 
already,  that  the  University  Professor,  Nicholas  of  Pepoli,  who 
from  the  beginning  had  been  the  advocate  and  benefactor 
of  the  Order,  eventually  entered  it  himself;  Bologna's  most 
celebrated  lawyer,  Accursius,  called  the  great,  at  about  the 
same  time  bequeathed  to  the  Order  his  villa,  La  Richardina, 
outside  the  town,  where  the  first  convent  was  soon  found  to  be 
too  small.  And  finally  Peter  of  Stacia  opened  a  house  of  study 
for  Franciscans,  like  the  theological  school  opened  in  Bologna 
by  the  Dominicans.1 

But  this  was  displeasing  to  Francis.  All  his  life  he  had  been 
an  idiota,  as  he  used  to  call  himself,  an  ignorant  man.  He 
had  nothing  against  studies,  and  Sabatier  is  wrong  when  he 
ascribes  to  Francis  a  definite  opposition  to  wisdom.  In  the 
form  of  an  Admonition  he  once  had  the  following  written :  "  All 
theologians  and  those  who  serve  us  with  God's  word  we  should 
honor  and  revere,  because  they  give  us  the  spirit  and  life."2 
This  study  should  have  a  practical  object,  however;  it  ought 
to  serve  the  proclamation  of  the  Divine  Word.  Accordingly 
only  few  books  were  required;  in  prayer,  that  which  grips  the 
heart  is  the  best  to  learn.  Francis  himself  liked  to  read  the 
Holy  Scriptures;  his  works  show  this.  But  as  he  grew  older 
it  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  read  enough  even  of  God's 
word,  and  that  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  had  enough  to  do  in 
pondering  over  it  —  and  in  practising  it.3  For  —  and  it  was 
to  this  his  thought  always  reverted  —  example  is  the  best 
preaching.  He  recognized  well  in  his  Rule  three  classes  of 
members  —  praedicatores,  oratores,  laboratores  —  and  he  placed 
the  preachers  above  those  who  prayed  and  those  who  worked. 
But  he  says  also,  "all  Brothers  ought  to  preach  by  their 
actions."4    And  he  goes  on  to  warn  against  "the  wisdom  of 

1Hilarin  Felder:  "Geschichte  der  wissenschaftlichen  Studien  im  Francis- 
kanerorden"  (Freiburg  im  Br.,  1904),  pp.  123-131.  The  same  words  in  his  Testa- 
ment (Opusc,  pp.  78-79). 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  122  (d'Alencon).  The  same  expression  in  his  Testa- 
ment {Opusc,  pp.  78-79). 

3  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  72. 

4  Reg.  prima,  cap.  XVII  (Bohmer,  p.  16). 


SAINT      FRANCIS    AND     LEARNING       229 

this  world"  and  against  those  who  are  all  word,  and  do 
nothing,  against  those  who  try  to  seem,  not  to  be.  "As  for 
myself,"  he  declares  at  last,  "I  know  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified,  that  is  enough  for  me."1 

A  tale  is  preserved  for  us  in  the  Speculum  perfectiontSj 
which  belongs  to  this  time,  and  which  gives  the  clearest  pos- 
sible illustration  of  Francis'  attitude  as  regards  useless  and 
injurious  book-learning. 

A  young  novice  had  received  permission  from  Brother 
Elias  to  have  a  copy  of  David's  Psalms  and  to  read  them. 
When  he  came  to  know  that  it  was  not  pleasing  to  Francis 
that  his  Brothers  should  be  eager  after  learning  and  books,  he 
wished,  for  his  conscience's  sake  in  reading  his  Psalter,  to 
have  also  Francis'  permission  to  own  it.  To  his  request  for 
this  Francis  replied: 

"The  Emperor  Charles,  Roland,  Holger  and  all  the  other 
heroes  fought  with  the  heathen  with  much  sweat  and  labor 
and  conquered  them  and  were  at  last  holy  martyrs  and  fell 
in  the  strife  for  the  faith  of  Christ.  But  in  these  days  there 
are  many  who  only  by  telling  and  preaching  about  what  the 
saints  have  done,  want  to  win  reputation  and  glory." 

The  young  novice  was  not  satisfied  with  this  answer,  but 
still  forced  his  request  upon  Francis.  Francis  looked  up  —  he 
sat  with  the  other  Brothers  by  the  fire  warming  himself  — 
and  answered: 

"My  Son!  Once  you  have  got  the  Psalter,  then  you  will 
want  a  Breviary,  when  you  have  got  a  Breviary,  you  will 
want  to  sit  in  the  high  seat  like  a  great  prelate  and  say  to 
thy  Brothers,  'Bring  me  my  Breviary.'" 

And  displeased  and  filled  with  anxious  thoughts  of  the  future 
prospects  of  his  Order,  he  reached  down  into  the  warm  ashes, 
spread  a  handful  upon  the  head  of  the  Brother  so  fond  of 
reading,  rubbed  the  ashes  around  as  if  he  were  washing  his 
head,  and  called  out  again  and  again,  "/  am  thy  Breviary! 
/  am  thy  Breviary!" 

"Brother,"  said  Francis  next  as  he  sat  down  somewhat 
quieter,  "even  I  have  been  tempted  to  collect  books.     But  as 

1  "Non  pluribus  indigeo,  fili.  Scio  Christum  pauperem  crucifixum."  Cela- 
no,  Vita  secunda,  II,  c.  71. 


230  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

I  did  not  know  God's  will  about  these  things,  I  took  the  Book 
of  Gospels  and  prayed  God  to  let  me  know  his  will.  And  I 
opened  the  book  and  at  once  found  these  words :  '  To  you  it  is 
given  to  know  the  mystery  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  to  the 
rest  in  parables.'" 

Francis  was  silent  for  a  moment  and  then  added:  "There 
are  so  many  in  our  days  who  want  to  seek  wisdom  and  learn- 
ing, that  happy  is  he  who,  out  of  love  for  the  Lord  our  God, 
makes  himself  ignorant  and  unlearned."  l 

Undoubtedly  Francis  was  right  in  thinking  that  the  time  in 
which  he  lived  was  more  eager  after  learning  than  almost  any 
other  epoch.  Not  less  than  seventy  new  universities  were 
established  in  the  course  of  the  half-century  from  1200  to  1250 
—  of  these  eight  in  Italy  alone  (Reggio,  Vicenza,  Padua, 
Naples,  Vercelli,  Rome,  Piacenza,  Arezzo).  The  three  great 
and  earlier-established  universities  in  Paris,  Bologna  and 
Oxford  reached  at  the  same  time  their  full  development,  and 
the  powerful  uplift  in  knowledge  began  which  characterized 
the  later  Middle  Ages.  In  this  movement  the  Dominicans 
took  part  from  the  beginning  —  it  stood  in  their  statutes 
inherited  from  the  Augustinian  choir-masters.  Now  the 
Friars  Minor  were  to  be  drawn  along  in  the  same  tendency  of 
the  day,  and  it  was  here  that  Francis  for  the  first  time  seri- 
ously set  himself  in  opposition,  here  he  showed  himself  —  as 
in  the  vision  Brother  Leo  had  —  with  claws  and  outstretched 
wings  defending  his  Order.2 

Francis' wrath  first  was  excited  by  Peter  Staciaand  his  house 
of  study  in  Bologna.  Certainly  Peter  had  not  established  it 
by  his  own  hand,  but  in  co-operation  with  Hugolin,  who  in 
1220  was  in  Bologna,  and  had  himself  recorded  as  owner  of 
the  requisite  building.3  Francis  at  once  travelled  thither, 
ordered  the  Brothers  to  leave  the  house  in  the  name  of  obedi- 
ence —  even  one  of  them  who  lay  sick  had  to  go  out  —  and 
took  his  own  abode  among  the  Dominicans.     Here  the  Broth- 

1  "Tot  sunt  qui  libenter  ascendunt  ad  scientiam  quod  beatus  erit  qui  se 
fecerit  sterilem  amore  Domini  Dei."  Spec,  perf.,  c.  4.  The  place  quoted  above 
is  in  Luke  viii.  10.     Compare  Celano,  Vita  secunda,  II,  c.  147  (d'Al.). 

*Anal.  Fr.,  Ill,  71. 

3  Spec,  perf.,  c.  6  (Sab.  ed.,  p.  16). 


SAINT      FRANCIS     AND     LEARNING       231 

ers  sought  him  and  promised  penance  and  amendment  with 
the  exception  of  Peter  Stacia,  whom  the  otherwise  so  cheerful 
Francis  is  said  to  have  cursed  —  a  curse  he  never  to  the  day 
of  his  death  was  willing  to  take  back.1 

It  was  not  only  evangelical  simplicity  which  Francis  found 
to  have  been  impaired  by  Peter  —  it  was  also  evangelical 
poverty,  and  therefore  was  Francis  so  inflexible.  How  was 
it  possible  to  be  a  good  Friar  Minor,  if  one  had  to  buy  great, 
fine,  learned,  expensive  books  and  have  big,  fine,  costly  houses 
to  keep  them  in?  Was  it  not  written  in  the  gospel  —  and 
therefore  also  in  the  Rule  of  the  Order  —  "Take  nothing  with 
you  on  the  way."  "I  understand  these  words  thus,"  said 
Francis,  "that  the  Brothers  ought  to  have  nothing  except  a 
habit  with  a  rope  and  underclothing  and  shoes,  as  much  as  is 
necessary."  "What  shall  I  do?"  a  minister  once  asked  him. 
"I  have  books  that  are  worth  more  than  fifty  pounds  of 
silver."  "For  the  sake  of  your  books  I  will  not  disobey  the 
books  of  the  gospel  which  I  have  promised  to  follow  as  my 
guide,"  answered  Francis.2  Therefore  he  did  not  neglect  to 
insert  in  the  ideal  picture  of  a  General  of  the  Order,  which  he 
once  produced,  the  minor  but  essential  trait:  "And  he  must 
not  be  a  collector  of  books." 3 

But  more  will  was  needed  to  carry  through  this  fight  than 
Francis  possessed.  It  was  the  others  —  those  who  were  not 
content  to  honor  wisdom  at  a  distance,  but  wanted  to  have  a 
part  in  it  —  who  were  the  stronger.  If  Brother  Leo  is  to  be 
trusted,  Elias  and  his  party  even  made  a  direct  attempt  to 
have  the  Rule  written  by  Francis  invalidated,  and  to  accept  in 
its  stead  the  Dominicans'  Rule,  for  example,  in  which  study 
occupied  a  much  more  prominent  place.  At  a  Chapter  of  the 
Order,  perhaps  in  1222  or  1223,  they  secured  Hugolin  for  their 
plan.  Francis  heard  the  carefully  framed  remarks  of  the  Car- 
dinal. Without  answering,  he  seized  his  hand,  drew  him  out 
among  the  assembled  Brothers  and  cried  out  in  a  loud  voice : 

1  Angelo  Clareno,  quoted  by  Hilarin  Felder,  p.  125,  n.  1.  Actus  B.  Fran- 
cisci,  cap.  61. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  32  (d'Alencon).  The  passage  of  Scripture  referred  to 
is  Luke  ix.  3.  Fifty  pounds  in  modern  money  is  about  450  dollars.  (Hilarin 
Felder,  p.  80,  note  2.) 

3  "Non  sit  aggregator  librorum."    Spec,  perf.,  p.  156. 


232  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

"My  Brothers,  my  Brothers,  the  Lord  called  me  to  travel 
the  paths  of  humility  and  simplicity  and  with  me  all  those 
who  want  to  follow  and  copy  me.  Do  not  then  speak  to  me 
either  of  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  or  of  St.  Augustin  or  of  St. 
Bernard  or  of  any  other.  For  the  Lord  said  to  me,  that  he 
wished  me  to  be  a  fool  and  a  simpleton,  the  like  of  which  was 
never  seen  before,  and  that  he  wished  to  bring  us  on  another 
road  than  that  of  wisdom.  But  God  wants  to  put  you  all  to 
shame  with  your  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  I  expect  that 
he  will  send  his  master  of  discipline  and  punish  you,  so  that 
whether  you  will  or  not  you  must  with  shame  turn  back  to 
your  place."1 

Was  Francis  justified  in  his  fear  of  knowledge?  It  is  true 
that  the  Apostle  says,  "Knowledge  puffeth  up;  but  Charity 
edifieth,"but  it  is  also  true,  what  has  been  said  in  our  day,  that 
this  word  must  often  cover  over  something  far  different  from 
holiness.2  Purely  and  simply  to  seek  the  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth  is  also  a  cultivation  of  God,  and  the  disinterested 
seeking  of  truth  exercises  a  strengthening  and  purifying  influ- 
ence on  the  entire  moral  being  of  man.  To  be  open  to  all 
truth  is  in  reality  a  sign  of  a  will  open  to  all  good.  It  is  with 
justice  that  the  Apostle  speaks  in  another  place  of  the  "holi- 
ness of  truth"  —  he  knew  that  holiness  in  the  will  is  a  fruit 
of  truth  in  thought,  and  that  only  the  full  disposition  for  truth 
is  the  full  disposition  for  holiness. 

What  most  displeased  Francis  was,  perhaps  in  his  innermost 
heart,  the  pride  of  intelligence,  egoism,  the  perversion  of  wis- 
dom to  a  means  of  flattering  the  vanity  of  the  ego.  He  did 
not  desire  that  man  should  adorn  himself  with  wisdom  so  as 
to  be  looked  at  and  esteemed  of  men.     It  was  much  better, 

1  Spec,  per/.,  c.  68.  "Et  dixit  mihi  Dominus  quod  volebat  me  esse  unum 
novellum  pactum."  The  correct  reading  is  undoubtedly  Pazzum  (Ital.  Pazzo); 
this  is  found  also  in  a  MS.  of  the  fourteenth  century  edited  by  Lemmens,  the 
Verba  S.  Francisci:  "dixit  mihi  Dominus,  quod  volebat,  quod  ego  essem  unus 
novellus  pazzus  in  hoc  mundo"  {Doc.  Ant.  Franc,  I,  Quaracchi,  1901,  p.  104). 
Bartholomew  of  Pisa  (ed.  15 13,  fol.  32b)  in  a  like  sense  has  Fatuellum. 
Francis  was  clearly  enough  thinking  of  that  nnova  pazzia  Jacopone  da  Todi 
was  to  sing  of  —  that  madness  of  the  Cross,  which  Elias  and  his  followers 
never  knew  or  understood. 

2  Uadage  "  Scientia  inflat,"  cher  a  quelques  saints  et  a  beaucoup  de  paresseux. 
(The  Bollandist  van  Ortrov  in  Analecta  Bollandiana.     Quoted  from  memory.) 


SAINT     FRANCIS     AND     LEARNING         233 

he  felt,  to  fall  on  the  knees  and  pray  to  God  for  your  fellow 
men,  alone  and  unknown  in  a  grotto  or  a  hermitage  high  up 
among  the  mountains,  than  in  a  cathedral  with  a  soul  full  of 
vanity  over  what  a  fine  fellow  one  is. 

"  These  are  my  Knights  of  the  Round  Table"  Francis  was  in 
the  habit  of  saying  with  one  of  the  wonted  expressions  from 
the  days  of  his  youthful  knighthood-mania,  "who  live  far 
away  in  desert  places  in  prayer  and  meditation  and  weep  over 
their  own  and  the  sins  of  others  and  live  in  simplicity  and 
humbly.  For  when  their  souls  will  go  before  the  Lord,  then 
will  the  Lord  show  them  the  fruit  and  recompense  for  their 
work,  namely  many  souls,  whom  they  by  their  examples,  prayers 
and  tears  have  saved.  'My  dear  sons,'  he  will  say,  'others 
preached  with  their  learned  words,  but  I  saved  souls  by  your 
merits;  take  the  payment  for  your  work  and  the  fruit  of  your 
merits,  which  is  the  eternal  kingdom  of  heaven.'  But  those 
who  have  not  troubled  themselves  about  anything  else  than 
to  know  and  to  show  the  way  to  others  and  have  done  nothing 
for  themselves,  they  must  stand  naked  and  empty  and  to  their 
shame  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ."  To  this  illus- 
tration, which  Francis  was  accustomed  to  give  the  Brethren 
at  the  General  Chapters,  he  was  accustomed  to  add  an  extract 
from  the  first  book  of  Samuel  (ii.  5):  "the  barren  hath  borne 
many:  and  she  that  had  many  children  is  weakened."  1 

Prayer  and  life  in  its  entirety,  not  words  or  theory,  was  for 
Francis  the  essential  in  spite  of  everything  —  the  essential  on 
which  he  and  his  Brothers  especially  had  to  depend.  Others 
might  take  the  way  that  pleased  them,  he  neither  condemned 
nor  criticized  them,  as  little  as  he  condemned  or  criticized  those 
who  went  in  gay  and  costly  clothes.  He  believed  that  he 
knew  only  what  it  was  that  he  and  his  were  called  to  make 
straight  on  the  earth,  and  if  he  finally  —  as  some  think  —  gave 
Anthony  of  Padua  (whose  Portuguese  University  acquirements 
had  been  discovered  and  were  to  be  utilized)  permission  to 
teach  theology  to  the  Brothers  in  Bologna,  then  it  certainly 
happened  in  the  form  preserved  by  tradition: 

"To  my  dearest  Brother  Antonius  greeting  in  Christ  from 
Brother  Francis.     It  pleases  me  that  thou  readest  theology 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  72. 


234  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

for  the  Brothers,  provided  they  do  not  for  the  sake  of  this 
study  give  up  their  prayers  and  slacken  the  spirit  of  devotion, 
as  it  stands  in  the  Rule.     Farewell."1 

Francis  here  alludes  to  the  final  Rule  in  which  this  precept 
is  found  in  the  fifth  chapter.  This  chapter  may  have  then 
stood  in  the  Rule,  but  the  Rule  as  a  whole  may  not  have  been 
as  yet  accepted  and  recognized.  It  was  first  on  November  29, 
1222  that  it  was  so  accepted,  and  Anthony  left  Bologna  in 
1224  to  go  to  Montpellier.  If  his  lectures  may  have  extended 
over  any  considerable  space  of  time,  they  must  have  begun 
earlier,  and  it  would  seem  probable  that  this  permission  was 
given  in  the  summer  of  1222,  when  Francis  is  known  to  have 
been  in  Bologna.  Anthony  at  the  time  was  stopping  in  Forli, 
in  the  province  of  Romagna,  to  which  also  the  learned  Univer- 
sity city  belonged. 

That  Francis,  moreover,  in  spite  of  all  internal  changes  in 
his  order,  continued  to  be  greeted  by  the  people  with  the 
same  inspiration  as  before,  and  that  his  simple  sermons  even 
in  the  learned  Bologna  had  made  the  deepest  impression,  is 
made  known  to  us  by  an  eyewitness'  tale.  In  Thomas  of 
Spalato's  Historia  Pontificum  Salonitanorum  et  Spalatensium, 
which  was  written  before  1268,  the  author  gives  the  following: 

"The  same  year"  —  i.e.,  1222  —  "on  the  holiday  of  the 
Assumption"  (August  15)  "as  I  was  a  student  in  Bologna,  I 
saw  St.  Francis  preach  in  the  market-place  in  front  of  the 
court-house,  where  nearly  all  the  town  were  gathered.  But 
the  beginning  of  his  sermon  was,  ' Angels,  Men,  Devils.'  He 
now  spoke  so  well  and  skilfully  on  these  three  kinds  of  reason- 
able spirits,  that  many  learned  men  who  were  present  were 
not  a  little  astonished  to  hear  an  unlearned  man  (idiotae) 
speak  thus.  But  the  whole  theme  of  his  discourse  was  to 
assuage  enmities  and  to  create  peace.  His  habit  was  dirty, 
his  appearance  insignificant,   his  face  not  handsome.     But 

1  Bohmer,  "  Analekten,"  p.  71.  Compare  Thomas  of  Celano,  Vita  sec,  II, 
c.  122  (d'AL).  "  Et  beato  Antonio  cum  semel  scriberet,  sic  poni  fecit  in  principio 
litterae:  Fratri  Antonio  episcopo  meo."  This  address,  so  characteristic  of 
Francis'  politeness,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  existing  text;  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  the  letter.  It  is  found  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Chron.  XXIV  gen.  of  the  last  half  of  the  fourteenth  century.  {Anal.  Franc, 
III,  132.) 


SAINT     FRANCIS     AND     LEARNING        235 

God  gave  his  word  such  power,  that  many  noble  families, 
between  whom  there  was  much  old-time  enmity  and  spilled 
blood,  allowed  themselves  to  be  induced  to  make  peace.  And 
all  felt  such  great  devotion  and  reverence  for  him,  that  men 
and  women  in  crowds  precipitated  themselves  upon  him,  and 
tried  to  tear  off  bits  of  his  habit  or  even  to  touch  the  hem  of 
his  garment."1 

It  is  impossible  to  read  without  emotion  this  old  account  by 
one  who  himself  had  seen  and  heard  St.  Francis.  It  seems  as 
if  Francis  first  wanted  to  impose  upon  his  learned  audience  a 
little  in  choosing  so  academic  a  theme  as  the  different  kinds 
of  intelligent  beings,  Angels,  Men,  Devils.  But  soon  it  was 
the  old  Francis  again,  the  preacher  disappeared,  the  people's 
speaker  remained.  And  then  did  his  words  seize,  attack  and 
inspire  for  God  just  as  in  the  old  days  in  Assisi  or  Arezzo,  or 
when  he  established  peace  between  the  Wolf  of  Gubbio  and 
the  citizens  of  the  town.  Old  hatreds  were  written  in  the 
Book  of  Lethe,  death  and  assassinations  were  stricken  from  the 
tablets,  hands  were  clasped  in  forgiveness  for  recent  bloodshed. 
Near  as  he  was  to  his  death  Francis  was  the  same  as  on  the 
first  day,  when  he  stood  upon  the  steps  in  the  market-place 
of  Assisi  to  exhort  to  peace.  He  is  still  the  Herald  of  the  Great 
King,  and  his  message  is  exactly  the  same  as  fifteen  years 
before  —  it  is  the  greeting  Jesus  Himself  had  taught  him : 
Dominus  det  tibi  pacent,  the  Lord  give  thee  peace. 

1  Bohmer,  p.  106.  Thomas  was  archdeacon  in  Spalato  (Dalmatia)  in 
1230  and  died  May  8,  1268.  Hitherto  the  date  of  this  sermon  of  Francis 
has  been  given  as  1220,  following  Wadding,  but  Bohmer  ("Analekten"  p.  61) 
has  definitely  proved  that  it  first  was  given  in  1222.  According  to  the  Actus 
b.  Francisci,  cap.  36,  during  this  stay  in  Bologna  Francis  converted  two  students 
of  the  Mark  of  Ancona,  Peregrine  of  Fallerone  and  Ricetius  from  Muccia, 
who  afterwards  became  Friars  Minor.  "And  although  Brother  P.  was  very 
learned  and  very  advanced  in  canon  law,  he  would  never  want  to  be  considered 
a  clerk,  but  a  simple  lay-brother."  This  was  quite  in  the  spirit  of  Francis. 
See  also  Fioretti,  cap.  27. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  LEARNED  FRANCISCANS  AND   THE  THIRD 

ORDER 

THE  development  Francis  had  opposed  went  its  inflex- 
ible and  unchangeable  way.  More  and  more  did  the 
Friars  Minor  become  a  learned  Order  of  students  like 
the  Dominicans. 
After  the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  12 19  Brother  Pacificusand 
his  companions  went  back  to  France,  provided  with  the  Papal 
Letters  of  Introduction  of  June  11  of  the  same  year.  This 
time  their  intention  was  to  stay  in  Paris,  whither  they  seem 
not  to  have  gone  in  1217,  on  their  first  mission  journey. 
The  French  clerics  seem  not  to  have  been  satisfied  with  the 
letters  brought  by  the  Brothers,  and  inquired  about  them  in 
Rome.  The  result  of  this  inquiry  was  a  new  Papal  com- 
mendation, addressed  directly  to  the  French  prelates  and  dated 
May  29,  1220. x  This  authorized  the  Brothers  to  settle  in  a 
house  in  St.  Denis  outside  of  Paris;  they  had  there  not  even 
a  chapel,  but  attended  divine  service  in  the  adjacent  parish 
church.  Already  in  1234  they  had  obtained  their  own  large 
convent  in  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  and  here  a  seminary  was 
erected  to  accommodate  214  students.  The  number  of  ap- 
plicants soon  became  so  great,  that  often  for  long  periods 
many  had  to  remain  enrolled  upon  the  waiting  lists,  until  the 
departure  of  students  who  had  taken  their  examination  gave 
room  for  others. 

Franciscans  of  the  old  type  saw  only  with  doubt  and  reluc- 
tance this  new  departure.  Especially  was  Brother  Giles  tire- 
less in  opposing  it.  Time  after  time  he  used  his  sharp  wit 
against  the  learned  Brothers  who  seemed  to  him  false  children 

1  Pro  dilectis  filiis.  Sbar.,  I,  p.  5.  Potth.,  I,  nr.  6263.  Hilarin  Felder: 
"Gesch.  der  wissensch.  Studien"  p.  159. 

236 


THE     LEARNED    FRANCISCANS  237 

of  St.  Francis.  "There  is  a  great  difference,"  said  he,  " between 
a  sheep  which  bleats  and  one  which  grazes.  For  braying  does 
no  one  any  good,  but  grazing  does  itself  good.  It  is  so  with  a 
Friar  Minor  who  preaches,  and  one  who  prays  and  works. 
A  thousand  and  again  a  thousand  times  better  is  it  to  teach 
oneself  than  to  teach  the  whole  world." 

Another  time  he  broke  out  thus:  "Who  is  the  richer  —  he 
who  has  only  a  little  garden  and  cultivates  it,  or  he  to  whom 
the  whole  world  was  given  and  who  does  nothing  with  it?  So 
much  wisdom  does  not  help  to  salvation,  but  he  who  really 
wishes  to  know  much  must  work  much  and  bow  his  head 
low." 

A  Brother  came  to  Giles  and  wished  to  have  his  blessing  for 
preaching  in  the  market-place  in  Perugia.  "Yes,"  answered 
Giles,  "provided  thou  wilt  limit  thy  preaching  to  saying,  'A 
great  cry  and  little  wool  is  what  I  give!' "  L 

Once  Giles  went  into  the  garden  in  front  of  the  hermitage 
of  Monte  Ripido  near  Perugia,  where  he  lived  for  thirty  years 
after  the  death  of  Francis.  He  heard  some  laborers  in  a  vine- 
yard getting  scolded  by  their  master,  because  they  talked 
instead  of  working.  Faite,  faite,  e  non  parlate,  "Work,  work,, 
and  don't  talk,"  the  master  of  the  vineyard  said  to  them. 
This  was  just  the  word  for  Giles.  He  left  his  cell  and  sought 
the  other  Brothers:  "Hear  this  now,  what  the  man  says, 
'Work,  work,  and  don't  talk!'" 

Another  time  Giles  heard  a  turtle-dove  cooing  in  the  garden. 
"0  sister  dove,"  said  he,  "I  will  learn  from  you  how  to  serve 
the  Lord !  For  thou  sayest  always  Qua,  Qua,  not  La,  La,  — 
here,  here  on  earth,  and  not  there,  there  in  heaven,  are  we  to 
serve  God.  O  sister  dove,  how  beautifully  thou  cooest!  O 
children  of  men,  why  do  you  not  learn  from  our  sister 
dove?" 

In  such  moments,  it  seemed  to  Brother  Giles  as  if  the  old 
times  were  back  again,  when  he  and  Francis,  as  God's  musi- 
cians, wandered  through  Italy.  Inspired  by  the  thought,  he 
sang  his  songs  in  honor  of  his  queen,  Poverty,  and  her  sister  the 
noble  lady  Chastity,  while  he  kept  moving  up  and  down  among 

1  "docuit  eum  f rater  Aegidius  quod  sic  diceret  in  sermone:  Bo,  bo,  molto 
dico  e  poco  Jo"     (Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  86.) 


238  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

his  flower-beds  and  played  as  if  on  a  violin  with  two  sticks, 
one  of  which  he  scraped  across  the  other.1 

But  soon  Brother  Giles  awakened  from  his  memories  and 
dreams  and  saw  that  the  good  old  times  were  irrevocably 
gone,  that  Francis  was  dead,  and  he  himself  an  old  man  whose 
ideas  did  not  interest  anyone.  It  was  as  if  the  sun  was  extin- 
guished for  him,  and  the  flowers  in  his  little  garden  smelt 
sweetly  no  longer,  and  the  turtle-doves  ceased  their  cooing. 
Then  Brother  Giles  sighed  deeply  and  long:  "Our  ship  leaks 
and  must  sink;  let  him  flee  who  can!  Paris,  Paris,  thou  ruin- 
estSt.  Francis'  Order!" 

This  sigh  found  its  echo  from  now  on  among  the  best  of  the 
sons  of  St.  Francis.  "  Paris,  thou  hast  ruined  Assisi  "  was 
the  song  of  Jacopone  da  Todi.2  And  when  Giles  in  his  old 
age  was  placed  before  the  General  of  the  Order,  St.  Bonaven- 
ture,  the  first  question  he  asked  this  learned  man  was  the 
following:  " Father,  can  we  ignorant  and  unlearned  men  be 
saved?"  "  Certainly,"  answered  St.  Bonaventure  kindly. 
"  Can  one  who  is  not  book-learned  love  God  as  much  as  one 
who  is?"  asked  the  old  Franciscan  again.  "An  old  woman 
is  in  a  condition  to  love  God  more  than  a  master  in  theology  " 
was  Bonaventure's  answer.  Then  Giles  stood  up,  went  to 
the  wall  of  his  garden  and  called  out  to  the  wide  world,  "  Hear 
this,  all  of  you,  an  old  woman  who  never  has  learned  any- 
thing and  cannot  read  can  love  God  more  than  Brother 
Bonaventure!"  3 

This  true  disciple  of  Francis  of  Assisi  died  soon  after; 

1  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  86,  p.  101.  The  song  praising  Poverty  reads:  "O  mi 
fratello,  o  bel  fratello,  o  amor  fratello,  fami  un  castello,  che  no  abbia  pietra  e 
ferro.  O  bel  fratello,  fami  una  cittade,  che  no  abbia  pietra  e  ligname."  For 
the  sonnet  in  praise  of  Chastity,  see  p.  109,  n.  1. 

2  "Mai  vedemmo  Parigi,  che  n'  ha  destrutto  Assisi,  con  la  lor  lettoria  l'hanno 
messo  in  mala  via."  (Jacopone  da  Todi:  Poesie  spirituali,  ed.  Tresatti.  Venice, 
1617,  1, 1,  satira  10.     Quoted  by  Felder,  ditto,  p.  234.) 

3  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  86,  p.  101.  Bonaventure,  who  in  his  writings  often 
alludes  to  Brother  Giles  and  puts  him  on  the  same  plane  with  St.  Augustin  or 
Richard  of  St.  Victor,  has  not  forgotten  this  incident.  In  his  Collationes  in 
hexaemeron  it  is  thus  told:  "Sic  ecce,  quod  una  vetula,  quae  habet  modicum 
hortum,  quia  solam  caritatem  habet,  meliorem  fructum  habet  quam  unus 
magnus  magister,  qui  habet  maximum  hortum  et  scit  mysteria  et  naturas 
rerum."  (Bonav.,  Opera,  t.  V,  Quaracchi  1891,  p.  418,  n.  26.)  These  colla- 
tiones date  from  the  years  1 267-1 273  (I.e.  Prolegomena,  p.  XXXVI). 


THE     LEARNED     FRANCISCANS  239 

Giles  joined  his  master  and  those  friends  who  had  gone  before 
him  on  April  22,  1262  —  the  eve  of  the  feast  of  St.  George, 
the  same  evening  on  which  he,  over  fifty  years  before,  had 
sat  by  the  fire  in  his  father's  house  in  Assisi  and  had  heard 
him  tell  about  Francis  and  had  made  up  his  mind  to  seek  him. 
Through  a  long  life  he  had  kept  his  heart  faithful  to  the  first 
and  only  love  of  his  younger  days.1 

The  development  of  the  Order  in  the  direction  of  study  had 
taken  a  greater  impulse  after  the  Franciscans  went  to  England, 
September  10,  1224.  This  mission  went  out  from  France  and 
was  led  by  Agnello  of  Pisa,  who  had  been  Custos  in  Paris. 
The  Brothers  settled  first  in  Canterbury,  but  as  early  as 
November  1,  1224  had  established  themselves  in  Oxford. 
Here  they  received  a  large  accession  of  students  and  candidates 
from  the  celebrated  University,  and  study  was  nowhere  more 
eagerly  pursued  than  among  the  English  Brothers.  Eccles- 
ton  tells  how  they,  on  their  bare  feet,  went  long  distances  in 
frost  and  cold  or  in  unfathomable  mud  to  go  to  the  lectures. 
At  the  same  time  they  adhered  most  strictly  to  the  Franciscan 
vows  of  poverty;  they  also  had  the  Franciscan  joy  with  them 
in  their  house;  as  soon  as  they  saw  each  other  they  must 
laugh,  and  even  in  the  church  this  ecstatic  joy  would  seize 
them,  so  that  for  sheer  happiness  they  could  not  say  their 
choral  prayers.2  The  Franciscanism  of  the  English  Brothers 
was  thus  in  some  ways  very  genuine,  and  Elias  of  Cortona, 
when  General,  had  no  more  fixed  opponents  of  his  violations 
of  the  Rule  than  the  learned  Friar  Minor,  Adam  of  Marsh.3 
None  the  less  it  was  an  Englishman,  Aymon  of  Faversham, 
who  as  General  of  the  Order  from  1240  to  1244  ordained  that 
none  except  the  book-learned  should  be  officers  in  the  Order.4 

Brother  Giles'  and  Brother  Juniper's  type  was  on  the  point 
of  dying  out.  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise?  At  the 
Pentecost  Chapter  of  1221  there  were  present  three  thou- 
sand of  the  Brethren.     But   could   Francis  expect   that  all 

1  Fr.  Gisbert  Menge:  "Der  selige  Agidius  von  Assist"  Paderborn,  1906, 
pp.   114-116. 

2  Anal.  Franc,  I,  pp.  217-218,  pp.  226-228. 

3  Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp.  229-230. 

4  "Hie  generalis  frater  Haymo  laicos  ad  officia  ordinis  inhabilitavit,  quae 
usque  tunc,  ut  clerici,  exercebant."     Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  251. 


240  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

these,  like  the  first  twelve  disciples,  were  to  be  "Knights 
of  the  Round  Table"?  Jordanus  of  Giano  tells  very  honor- 
ably of  himself  that  he,  instead  of  being  an  adventurous 
warrior  of  God's  army,  energetically  set  himself  in  opposi- 
tion when  it  was  proposed  to  send  him  as  a  missionary  to 
Germany.1  Brothers  like  this  were  no  longer  heaven-soaring 
larks;  Francis  saw  justly  in  them  chickens,  who  sought  shel- 
ter under  protecting  wings. 

The  same  tendency  became  manifest  in  the  Third  Order  at 
last,  the  Order  founded  by  Francis  for  married  men  and  women. 

If  we  believe  Thomas  of  Celano,  it  came  to  pass  that 
St.  Francis,  after  having  preached  to  the  birds  at  Bevagna, 
came  to  a  town  called  Alviano,  between  Orte  and  Orvieto, 
near  Todi.  Here  he  and  Brother  Masseo  stopped  in  the 
market-place  and  were  going  to  preach.  But  it  was  now 
evening,  and  the  many  swallows,  who  still  build  their  nests 
in  the  old  grey  walls  and  ruinous  towers  of  Alviano,  circled 
to  and  fro  with  ceaseless  twittering  and  glad  little  cries  in  and 
out  of  their  nests  under  the  eaves.  Francis  and  Masseo,  as 
was  their  custom,  sang  their  Laud,  Timete  et  honorate,2  and 
the  people  collected  and  stood  expectantly  in  silence,  while  the 
singing  lasted.  But  those  who  did  not  keep  silence  were  the 
swallows.  Lower  and  lower  they  swept  across  the  market- 
place in  ever  thicker  flocks,  and  their  twittering  and  cries 
increased  until  at  last  no  sound  could  be  heard.  Then  Francis 
looked  up  with  his  patient  countenance  and  said  very  cheer- 
fully: "My  sister  swallows,  it  seems  to  me  now  that  the 
time  has  come  when  I  should  have  a  chance  to  speak;  now  you 
have  said  enough!  Hear  therefore  God's  word  and  keep  still 
and  quiet  while  I  preach!"  And  at  once  all  the  swallows 
were  silent  and  made  no  sound,  as  long  as  Francis 
preached. 

"But  on  account  of  this  miracle  and  on  account  of  the 
glowing  words  Francis  spoke,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
wanted  to  follow  Francis  and  be  his  disciples.  But  Francis 
restrained  them  and  said,  'Be  not  too  hasty,  I  will  ordain 
for  you  what  you  shall  do  to  be  saved. '  And  from  that  time 
on,"  the  Actus  b.  Francisci  goes  on  to  say,  "he  thought  of 

1  Anal  Franc,  I,  p.  7.  2  Reg.  prima,  cap.  XXI. 


THE     LEARNED     FRANCISCANS  241 

establishing  a  third  order  qui  dicitur  continentium,  which  is 
called  the  abstainers."1 

More  than  once  such  things  happened  to  Francis.  As  an  in- 
stance there  was  a  parish  priest  who,  after  he  had  heard  Fran- 
cis, wished  to  live  the  same  life  as  he  did,  without,  however, 
abandoning  his  field  of  work.  Francis  conceded  to  him  to  remain 
in  his  church  and  only  ordered  him  each  year,  when  he  had 
collected  his  tithes,  to  give  the  poor  what  might  be  left  of  the 
tithes  of  the  preceding  year.2  It  was  a  Franciscan  renunciation 
of  possessions  modified  to  suit  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 

On  one  of  his  wanderings  Francis  met  in  the  town  of  Poggi- 
bonsi  in  the  valley  of  Elsa  (between  Florence  and  Siena)  a 
merchant  named  Luchesio,  whom,  it  seemed  to  him,  he  had 
known  in  early  youth.  Like  the  Sienese,  John  Colombini, 
who  figured  later,  Luchesio  had  hitherto  been  a  hard  and 
penurious  man,  with  one  exception  in  his  sparing  ways.  He 
was  generous  with  the  poor,  gave  lodging  to  pilgrims,  received 
and  helped  widows  and  orphans.  Francis  seems  to  have  had 
no  influence  in  his  conversion,  but  only  to  have  given  him  and 
his  wife,  Bona  Donna,  a  rule  of  life  and  a  penitential  garment. 
After  this  Luchesio  devoted  all  his  time  to  works  of  charity, 
took  care  of  the  sick  in  the  hospitals  and  went  out  with  an 
ass  loaded  with  medicines  into  the  fever-laden  Maremma,  to 
bring  succor  to  the  many  fever  patients  there.  If  he  was 
home,  he  worked  in  a  little  garden  he  had  retained  after 
parting  with  his  other  possessions,  and  whose  fruits  he  sold. 
If  this  way  of  life  did  not  bring  him  enough,  he  would  go  out 
and  beg.  Bona  Donna  seems  for  a  while  to  have  resisted 
vigorously  these  proceedings  of  her  husband,  but  like  John 
Colombini's  wife,  she  is  said  to  have  become  converted  by  a 
miracle.  After  this  they  lived  in  unity  together  and  died  at 
an  interval  of  a  few  hours,  April  28,  1260.3 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  XX,  59.  In  Actus  b.  Francisci  (Sab.  ed.,  p.  57)  the  scene 
of  this  incident  is  laid  in  Cannara  between  Foligno  and  Bevagna.  Bonaven- 
ture  (XII,  4)  gives  Alviano.  The  same  name  might  suggest  Laviano  in  the 
valley  of  Chiana,  but  Wadding  declares  positively  for  Alviano  near  Todi  (see 
1212,  n.  32).     Fioretti  (cap.  16)  calls  the  town  Savurniano. 

2  Bernard  a  Bessa  {Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp.  686-687). 

*  A.  SS.,  April  III,  pp.  610-616.     Count  Orlando  dei  Cattani  of  Chiusi 
received  a  garment  of  penance  from  Francis  also  (see  above  p.  162,  note  1). 
17 


242  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Around  Luchesio  as  a  centre  a  circle  of  people  of  similar 
inclination  collected  in  Poggibonsi,  and  in  the  same  way,  in 
other  Italian  cities,  there  were  formed  what  Gregory  IX  was 
to  designate  as  Poenitentium  collegia,  "  communities  of  peni- 
tents." l  It  is  to  be  believed  that,  as  in  the  case  above, 
Francis  gave  these  penitents  a  Rule  of  Life;  this  was  ever 
his  custom  with  all  who  asked  him  for  spiritual  guidance. 
None  of  these  Rules  are  in  existence,  and  it  is  only  by  the  help 
of  later  sources  that  we  can  acquire  an  idea  of  their  actual 
scope  and  contents.2 

It  was  characteristic  of  the  Penitential  Brothers  —  the 
expression  Tertiary,  i.e.,  Member  of  the  Third  Order  of 
St.  Francis,  only  appeared  later — that  they  sought  in  their  life 
in  the  world  to  imitate  the  ways  of  Francis  and  his  Brothers. 
They  were  to  be  in  the  world,  but  not  of  the  world.  As  soon 
as  they  entered  the  Brotherhood  they  pledged  themselves 
to  give  back  all  unjustly  acquired  goods  —  which  in  many 
cases  meant  to  give  up  everything  —  to  pay  the  tithes  for 
which  they  might  stand  in  arrears,  to  make  their  wills  in  time 
to  prevent  strife  among  their  heirs,  not  to  take  an  oath,  except 
in  special,  extraordinary  cases,  and  not  to  accept  public  office. 
They  wore  a  poor  and  distinctive  habit  and  divided  their 
time  between  prayer  and  deeds  of  charity.  They  generally 
lived  with  their  families,  but  sometimes,  like  the  Friars  Minor, 
withdrew  into  solitude. 

These  Penitential  Brothers  very  soon  came  in  conflict 
with  the  public  authorities,  on  account  of  their  principles. 
Impressive  in  this  aspect  is  an  incident  that  occurred  in  the 


1  Gregory  IX  to  Agnes  of  Bohemia,  May  9,  1238  (Sbar.,  I,  p.  241). 

2 1  follow  here  Karl  Muller's  fundamental  studies  in  "Die  Anfange  des 
Minor lienor dens, ,"  pp.  130  et  seq.,  as  well  as  Le  Monnier:  Histoire  de  S.  Fran- 
cois, II,  pp.  1-40.  The  regula  et  vita  fratrum  vel  sororum  poenitentium  found 
by  Sabatier  in  the  Franciscan  convent  in  Capistrano  in  the  Abruzzi  and  pub- 
lished in  Opuscules,  I,  pp.  16-20,  comprise  probably  the  Rule  written  by  Francis 
and  Hugolin  in  co-operation  for  the  Penitential  Brothers  and  in  any  case  date 
from  1228,  except  for  a  few  later  additions.  The  papal  bulls  in  favor  of  the 
Brothers,  quoted  by  Karl  Miiller  as  above,  pp.  132  et  seq.,  are  about  the  best 
proofs.  See  also  Mandonnet  in  Sabatier's  Opuscules,  I,  pp.  143-245,  Sabatier 
in  Coll.,  II,  pp.  157-163,  Gotz:  "Die  Regel  des  Tertiarierordens,"  and  Karl 
Miiller:  "Zur  Geschichte  des  Bussbruderordens,"  both  in  "Zeitschr.  f.  Kgsch.," 
Vol.  XXIII  (1902),  pp.  97-107  and  496-524. 


THE     LEARNED     FRANCISCANS  243 

city  of  Faenza  (near  Rimini).  Here  the  citizens  had  joined 
the  local  Brotherhood  in  great  numbers,  and  when  the  mayor 
wished  them  to  take  the  usual  oath  of  obedience,  by  which 
they  would  oblige  themselves  to  take  up  arms  when  the 
authorities  ordered  it,  they  refused  to  swear,  under  the  claim 
that  to  swear  such  an  oath  involving  the  taking  up  of  arms 
was  against  their  Rule.  By  every  means  of  compulsion  the 
mayor  tried  to  force  the  Brotherhood  to  take  this  oath,  and 
apparently  they  turned  in  their  need  to  Francis'  friend, 
Cardinal  Hugolin.  This  is  the  only  supposition  by  which 
we  can  explain  the  fact  that  Honorius  III,  in  a  document  of 
December  16,  1221,  ordered  the  Bishop  of  Rimini  to  take  the 
Penitential  Brothers  in  Faenza  into  his  protection.1 

This  dispute  between  the  Penitential  Brothers  and  the 
authorities  soon  spread  over  the  whole  of  Italy.  As  a  sort  of 
punishment  the  cities  subjected  the  Penitential  Brothers  to 
special  taxes,  or  forbade  them  to  give  their  property  to  the 
poor.  In  a  circular  letter  to  the  Archbishops  of  all  Italy, 
Honorius  orders  the  clergy  to  take  the  side  of  the  Brothers 
against  the  public  authorities  and  to  see  that  they  are  not 
injured  in  any  way,  and  scarcely  had  Gregory  IX  become 
Pope  when  he  time  after  time  threatened  the  enemies  of  the 
Penitential  Brothers  with  "the  anger  of  God  and  of  the  holy 
Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul."2  More  fortunately  situated  than 
the  Quakers  and  Adventists  of  a  later  time,  the  Penitential 
Brothers  could  bring  about  at  least  a  partial  disarming  in 
the  quarrelsome  Italian  republics  and  in  some  degree  pave 
the  way  for  future  days  of  greater  peace.  And  thus  it  fell  to 
Francis'  lot,  or  to  that  of  the  movement  instituted  by  him, 
to  tame  the  wolves  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

As  soon  as  the  dissension  in  Faenza  broke  out,  it  very  natu- 
rally occurred  to  Hugolin  to  unite  the  scattered  Brotherhoods 
into  a  united  and  therefore  more  powerful  body.  In  the  late 
summer  of  1221  he  still  resided  in  Bologna  and  in  its  environs 


1  Signification  est  nobis  (Sbaralea,  I,  p.  8.     Potth.,  I,  6736). 

2  In  his  letter  of  March  28,  1230  (Detestanda  humani  generis,  Sb.,  I,  p.  39, 
Potth.,  I,  8159)  Gregory  IX  quotes  his  predecessor's  bull.  For  Gregory's 
other  utterances  in  favor  of  the  Penitential  Brothers  see  Sbar.,  I,  pp.  30 
and  65. 


244  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

and  therefore  had  much  to  do  with  the  citizens  of  Faenza  in 
various  ways.1  Francis  and  Hugolin  apparently  at  this  time 
wrote  in  common  the  first  Rule  for  the  Penitential  Brother- 
hood or,  as  they  were  already  called  by  Bernard  of  Bessa, 
the  Third  Order.2  "The  Third  Order,"  the  secretary  of 
St.  Bonaventure  writes,  "is  equally  for  clerics  and  layfolk, 
maidens,  widows  and  married  people.  The  intention  of  the 
Brothers  and  Sisters  of  Penance  is  to  live  honorably  in  their 
residences  and  to  busy  themselves  with  pious  actions  and  to 
flee  from  the  vanities  of  the  world.  And  among  them  thou 
seest  noble  knights  and  others  of  the  great  ones  of  the  world 
in  humble  costume  acting  so  beautifully  with  the  poor  and 
rich  that  thou  canst  well  see  that  they  truly  are  God-fearing."  3 
As  has  been  said,  the  original  Rule  of  the  Third  Order, 
which  Francis  and  Hugolin  wrote,  has  not  been  preserved  for 
us.     But  it  certainly  was  the  foundation  of  the  Rule  of  1228, 

1  Bohmer  has  collected  the  proofs  of  this  (" Analektcn"  p.  XXXV). 

2  The  Friars  Minor  are  the  first,  the  Clares  are  the  second. 

3  Anal.  Franc,  III,  686.  Compare  Tres  Socii,  cap.  XIV  end,  as  well  as 
Mariano  of  Florence's  work,  hitherto  only  existing  in  manuscript,  on  the 
Third  Order  (MS.  Palatin  147  in  the  National  Library  in  Florence,  studied  by 
Sabatier  in  Coll.,  II,  pp.  157-163).  It  says  in  it  of  St.  Francis:  "Havendo 
adunque  fornito  la  oratione  et  sentendosi  pieno  di  divino  spirito  et  con  el  con- 
siglio  et  adiuto  di  messere  Ugolino  cardinale  Ostiense  che  fu  poi  papa  Gregorio 
nono  compose  et  scripse  una  breue  vita  in  quatordici  rubriche  distinta,  la  quale 
comincia:  Viri  et  muliercs  hnjus  fratcrnitatis  etc.  et  intitulola:  memoriale 
Propositi  fratrum  et  sororum  de  poenitentia  in  domibus  propriis  existent i u m. 
Sancto  Francesco  in  comporre  questa  regola  essendo  col  sopradetto  cardinale 
quello  che  lo  spirito  li  dictava  al  cardinale  porgeva,  et  el  cardinale  con  sua 
propria  mano  alcune  cose  soperendo  scriveva.  La  quale  regola  con  breve 
parole  scripta  in  se  grande  substantia  contiene  et  e  comune  a  chierici  et  layci, 
homini  et  donne,  soluti  et  coniugati,  vergine  et  vedove  et  in  conclusione  contiene 
suoi  professori  honestamente  vivino  nelle  lore  case  in  penitentia  e  che  dieno 
opera  alle  opere  della  pieta  fugendo  le  mondiale  pompe.  .  .  .  Et  cosi  scripta 
la  regola  comincio  in  decta  citta  di  Firenze  a  ricevere  al  decto  ordine  li  huomini 
et  donne  et  questo  achade  lanno  del  Signore  1221  ad  di  venti  di  maggio." 

We  see  how  well  Mariano's  description  of  the  Order  agrees  with  that  of 
Bessa.  When  the  Florentine  chronicler  wishes  to  claim  that  the  Third  Order 
originated  in  Florence,  perhaps  it  is  his  local  patriotism  which  makes  him  do 
it.  But  it  is  also  conceivable  that  the  original  Latin  text  employed  by  Mariano 
contained  —  as  Bohmer  maintains — the  word  "Faventia"  (Faenza),  and 
that  he  read  it  "  Florentia."  The  Rule  of  1228,  found  by  Sabatier,  which  almost 
certainly  originated  in  Faenza,  has  the  exact  title  given  by  Mariano:  Memorale 
propositi  fratrum  et  sororum  de  poenitentia  in  domibus  propriis  existentium.  More- 
over, the  date  of  publication  is  here  found  as  1221,  and  Chapter  I  begins  Viri 
qui  huius  fratemitatis  fuerint. 


THE    LEARNED     FRANCISCANS  245 

the  merit  of  bringing  which  to  light  is  Sabatier's,  and  which 
was  valid  in  the  Ravenna  district,  perhaps  in  Faenza.  This 
Rule  had  the  following  contents: 

The  first  to  the  fifth  chapter  gives  directions  about  clothing, 
fasts,  prayers;  the  sixth  chapter,  paragraph  1,  is  devoted  to 
the  Brothers'  confessions  and  communions,  which  are  fixed 
at  three  times  in  the  year  (July,  Easter,  Pentecost).  Para- 
graph 2  inculcates  conscientious  payment  of  tithes;  paragraph 

3  contains  the  prohibition  against  bearing  weapons;  paragraph 

4  forbids  oaths  (oaths  of  allegiance  and  oaths  in  court  are 
excepted) ;  paragraph  5  is  directed  against  cursing  and  swear- 
ing. Chapter  VII  treats  of  Meetings  of  the  Order  (once  a 
month;  mass  is  read,  there  is  preaching  and  a  collection). 
Chapter  VIII  on  the  sick;  they  are  to  be  visited  once  a  week, 
to  be  helped  corporally  as  well  as  to  be  admonished  spiritually. 
Chapter  IX  on  praying  for  the  deceased  members  and  attend- 
ing the  burials.  Chapter  X,  paragraph  1,  on  making  one's 
will  within  three  months  of  the  day  of  reception;  paragraph  2, 
to  observe  peace  among  themselves;  paragraph  3,  how  to  meet 
the  attacks  of  the  public  authorities  (the  Heads  of  the  Brother- 
hood shall  have  recourse  to  the  Bishop).  Paragraph  5  of  this 
chapter  treats  of  the  requirements  for  being  a  Brother  or  a 
Sister  —  that  one  shall  make  peace  with  his  neighbor,  return 
ill-gotten  goods,  and  pay  arrears  of  tithes.  Chapter  XI, 
paragraph  1,  no  heretic  can  be  received;  paragraph  2,  mar- 
ried women  must  not  be  received  without  their  husbands' 
consent.  Chapters  XII  and  XIII  treat  of  the  maintenance 
of  discipline  in  the  Order;  especially  are  to  be  noted  Chapter 
XIII,  paragraphs  8  and  9,  in  which  it  is  ordered  that  the 
member  who  has  given  open  scandal  and  injured  the  good 
name  of  the  Order  shall  acknowledge  his  offence  before 
the  assembled  Brethren  and  accept  his  punishment.  If  the 
offence  is  very  great,  the  offender  can  be  expelled  from  the 
Order.  In  paragraphs  13  to  15  it  is  forbidden  to  take  a  com- 
plaint against  a  Brother  or  a  Sister  to  the  courts;  all  disputes 
must  be  settled  within  the  Order.  Paragraph  12  gives 
finally  an  addition  to  the  command  to  return  ill-gotten  goods; 
if  it  is  not  known  any  more  who  has  been  wronged  or  who  his 
heirs  are,  then  by  a  public  crier,  or  by  posting  on  the  church 


246  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

pillars,  all  and  every  one  who  has  been  injured  by  the  newly 
entering  Brother  shall  be  invited  to  make  known  his  claim.1 

1  The  Rule  of  1228  in  Sabatier,  Opusc,  I,  pp.  16-30;  Bohmer,  " Analekten," 
pp.  73-82. 

The  Rule  for  Tertiaries  in  Florence  (Faenza?)  given  by  Mariano  in  the 
manuscript  referred  to  differs,  as  far  as  a  provisional  judgment  can  go,  not  a 
little  from  the  Rule  contained  in  the  Capistrano  manuscript.  See  the  list  of 
chapter-headings  in  Mariano's  version  of  the  Rule  given  by  Sabatier  (Coll., 
II,  p.  159)  and  the  comparison  based  thereon  with  the  Capistrano  Rule  by 
Walter  Gotz  in  "Zeitschr.  f.  Kgsch.,"  XXIII  (1902),  pp.  100-101.  As  the  Third 
Order,  as  already  stated,  was  formed  by  the  union  of  originally  independent 
brotherhoods,  there  is  nothing  to  preclude  the  belief  that  local  interpretations 
existed  along  with  the  general  Rule. 

For  the  wider  development  of  the  Third  Order  see  Karl  Miiller's  (not  unas- 
sailable) presentation  in  "Anfange  des  M.  O.,"  pp.  145  et  seq. 

The  Third  Order  of  the  present  day  was  reorganized  by  Leo  XIII  in  1883 
by  the  Constitution  Misericors  Dei  filius.  See  Rev.  Eugene  d'Oisy's  Direc- 
toire  des  Tertiaires  de  St.  Francois,  Paris,  1905. 


CHAPTER  XI 
ELIAS  OF  CORTONA   AND   THE  FINAL  RULE 

THE  co-operation  of  Francis  and  Hugolin  on  the  Rule 
of  the  Friars  Minor  seems  to  have  gone  on  in  the 
same  way  as  their  co-operation  in  the  Third  Order's 
Rule.  "St.  Francis,"  says  Mariano  of  Florence, 
"said  to  the  Cardinal  what  the  inspiration  of  the  spirit  told 
him,  and  the  Cardinal  wrote  it  down  with  his  own  hand  and 
then  added  some  things."1 

A  tale  preserved  for  us  in  the  Legenda  antiqua  gives  a 
description  of  Hugolin's  influence  and  of  the  correction  he 
introduced.  Francis,  for  instance,  wanted  to  put  into  the 
Rule  that  if  the  ministers  did  not  see  to  it  that  the  Brothers 
followed  the  Rule  literally  and  verbally,  then  the  Brothers 
should  be  at  liberty  to  follow  the  Rule,  even  against  the 
desires  of  the  ministers.  Such  a  permission  Francis  had, 
among  others,  once  given  to  Caesarius  of  Speier;  he  alone 
or  with  others  of  the  same  mind  had  Francis'  permission  to 
separate  themselves  from  such  of  the  Brothers  who  might 
appear  unfaithful  to  the  Rule,  and  to  be  at  liberty  "to  follow 
it  literally  and  without  interpretation."2 

Undoubtedly  Francis  by  this  determination  wanted  to  open 
a  way  of  escape  for  the  Brothers  who  in  the  questions  of 
knowledge  and  poverty  did  not  want  to  go  with  the  stream. 
Hugolin  was  opposed  to  such  a  permission  as  being  the  sure 
road  to  the  splitting  up  and  dissolving  of  the  Order.     But 

1Coll.  (Sabatier),  II,  p.  161.  Compare  Hugolin's  own  words  in  the  bull 
Quo  elongati  of  September  28,  1230:  "in  condendo  praedictam  regulam  .  .  . 
(Francisco)  astiterimus"  (Sbar.,  I,  p.  68),  and  Bernard  a  Bessa  in  Anal.  Franc, 
III,  p.  686. 

2  "ad  litteram  sine  glossa"  (compare  Francis'  strong  prohibition  in  his 
Testament  against  interpreting  the  Rule  and  saying  "it  shall  be  thus  under- 
stood," Opuscula,  p.  82).     Sab.,  Opusc,  I,  pp.  96-97. 

247 


248  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Francis  strongly  advocated  that  the  necessary  permission 
should  be  embraced  in  the  Rule,  whereupon  Hugolin  said, 
"I  will  arrange  it  so  that  the  intent  of  the  Order  shall  not  be 
changed,  but  only  the  expression."  Francis  agreed  to  this, 
but  what  eventually  appeared  in  the  Rule  is  only  a  very  weak 
replica  of  his  thought. 

In  Francis'  drawing  up  it  was  permitted,  and  even  com- 
manded absolutely  in  the  name  of  obedience,  that  the 
Brothers  should  disobey  their  superiors  as  far  as  it  was  neces- 
sary for  obeying  the  Rule  litteraliter,  for  the  Rule  was  above 
the  minister  and  the  oath  of  obedience  was  one  of  obedience 
to  the  Rule,  not  to  the  ministers.1  In  Hugolin's  version 
the  very  Brothers  in  whom  Francis  saw  his  real  sons,  and  to 
whom  he  had,  in  the  person  of  Caesarius  of  Speier,  given 
his  benediction,  became  a  sort  of  Scrupulists,  whom  the  min- 
isters were  exhorted  to  speak  to  with  consideration  and  to 
exert  persuasion  upon.  Those  who  in  the  eyes  of  Francis 
were  the  warriors  of  the  good  cause,  in  Hugolin's  Rule  become 
patients.2 

In  addition  to  Hugolin,  Brother  Elias  had  also  a  great 
influence,  as  the  Vicar  of  the  Order,  on  the  final  form  of  the 
Rule.  We  have  a  proof  of  this  in  a  letter  which  Francis  wrote 
to  him  in  the  winter  of  1 222-1 223. 

Elias  had  openly  gone  to  Francis  with  a  complaint  against 
some  Brothers  and  with  pious  wishes  for  their  amendment. 
Francis  answered  quite  out  of  his  usual  trend  of  thought: 

"I  will  tell  thee  my  ideas  as  well  as  I  can:  namely,  that 
thou  regardest  it  as  a  blessing  only,  both  when  the  Brothers 

1  The  same  order  of  thought  is  to  be  seen  in  Thomas  of  Celano's  expression 
"obedientiis  cunctis  Franciscum  omnino  propono."  V.  sec,  II,  84  (d'AL). 

2  We  can  compare  the  two  texts: 

"ad  suos  ministros  debeant  et  possint  recurrere  [fratres],  ministri  vero 
teneantur  eisdem  fratribus  per  obedientiam  postulata  benigne  et  liberaliter 
concedere;  quod  si  facere  nollent,  ipsi  fratres  habeant  licentiam  et  obedientiam 
earn"  [sc.  regulam]  "litteraliter  observandi,  quia  omnes  tarn  ministri  quam 
subditi  debent  regulae  esse  subjecti"  (Sab.,  Opusc,  I,  p.  94). 

"Et  ubicumque  sunt  fratres  qui  scirent  et  cognoscerent  se  non  posse  regulam 
spiritualiter  observare,  ad  suos  ministros  debeant  et  possint  recurrere.  Ministri 
vero  caritative  et  benigne  eos  recipiant  et  tantam  familiaritatem  habeant  circa 
ipsos  ut  dicere  possint  eis  et  facere  sicut  domini  servis  suis.  Nam  ita  debet 
esse  quod  ministri  sint  servi  omnium  fratrum"  (Reg.  sec,  cap.  X). 


ELIAS     OF     CORTONA  249 

and  other  men  oppose  thee.  .  .  .  Thou  must  wish  that  it 
should  be  just  so  and  not  otherwise.  ...  I  know  with  cer- 
tainty that  in  this  there  is  true  obedience.  And  love  those 
who  are  opposed  to  thee,  and  wish  nothing  else  for  them  than 
what  the  Lord  will  give  thee.  And  herein  show  thou  thy 
charity,  that  thou  shalt  not  wish  them  to  be  better  Chris- 
tians. And  that  shall  be  more  for  thee  than  to  withdraw  to  a 
hermitage."  l 

In  the  same  deep  spirit  of  charity  that  accepts  everything 
from  God's  hand  and  will  not  even  extricate  itself  from  dis- 
agreeable surroundings  or  wish  the  betterment  of  one's  fellow- 
men  from  the  desire  of  effecting  their  improvement  personally, 
Francis  treats  of  another  question,  which  undoubtedly  often 
came  upon  the  stage  with  him  and  Elias.  It  is  the  question 
of  what  shall  be  done  with  the  Brothers  who  are  fallen  into 
sin.  Elias,  who  was  so  anxious  to  improve  his  neighbor,  was 
naturally  in  favor  of  strong  measures  —  "It  takes  strong 
lye  for  a  scurvy  head  "  is  one  of  the  merciless  popular  proverbs. 
Francis,  on  the  other  hand,  writes: 

"As  sure  as  thou  lovest  the  Lord  and  me,  His  servant  and 
thy  servant,  see  thou  to  it  that  no  Brother  in  the  whole  world, 
let  him  have  sinned  as  he  may,  in  any  way,  is  permitted  to 
go  from  thee  without  forgiveness,  if  he  asks  for  it.  And  if 
he  does  not  ask  for  forgiveness,  then  ask  him  if  he  does  not 
want  forgiveness.  And  if  he  comes  a  thousand  times  even 
before  thy  eyes  with  sin,  then  love  him  altogether  more  than 
thou  lovest  me,  that  thou  mayest  draw  him  to  the  Lord, 
and  be  always  merciful  to  such.   .  .  . 

"But  of  all  the  chapters  there  are  in  the  Rules  and  that 
treat  of  deadly  sins,  we  will,  with  the  help  of  the  Lord  at  the 
Pentecost  Chapter,  together  with  the  Brethren,  make  a  chapter 
to  this  effect:  'If  any  Brother,  prompted  by  the  evil  enemy, 
falls  into  deadly  sin,  then  he  is  obliged  to  reveal  it  to  his 
guardian.  And  all  Brothers  who  know  that  he  has  sinned 
must  not  put  him  to  shame  or  attack  him,  but  must  show 

x"et  non  velis  quod  sint  meliores  christiani.  Et  istud  sit  tibi  plus  quam 
eremitorium "  (Bohmer,  p.  28).  This  is  the  reading  of  the  three  best  manu- 
scripts. A  single  MS.  (S.  Isidoro  £5)  in  Lemmens'  Opuscula  has  (p.  108)  the 
opposite:  "in  hoc  dilige  eos,  ut  velis,  quod  sint  meliores  christiani." 


250  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

him  great  mercy  and  keep  their  Brother's  sin  very  secret,  for 
the  healthy  need  no  physician,  only  those  who  suffer  illness. 
Likewise  they  are  obliged  to  send  him  with  a  companion  to 
the  guardian  (custos).  And  the  guardian  shall  mercifully 
help  him,  as  he  himself  would  want  to  be  helped  if  he  were 
in  a  similar  case.  And  if  a  Brother  falls  into  a  venial  sin, 
then  he  shall  make  it  known  to  one  of  the  Brothers,  who  is  a 
priest,  and  if  there  is  no  priest,  he  shall  make  it  known  to  his 
Brother,  until  he  can  find  a  priest,  who  can  give  him  true 
absolution;  but  no  other  penance  shall  be  given  him  than 
this :   '  Go  forth  and  sin  no  more ! ' 

"But  that  thou  canst  better  comply  with  this  letter,  so 
keep  it  with  thee  until  Easter.  Then  thou  wilt  be  with  thy 
Brothers.  And  then  with  the  Lord's  help  we  will  see  that  a 
treatment  is  provided  for  everything  lacking  in  the  Rule." 

Few  parts  of  Francis'  writings  give  a  better  insight  into  the 
unbounded  mildness  and  patience  of  his  disposition.  He  was 
not  one  to  extinguish  the  feeble  flame  or  to  break  the  bending 
branch.  If  we  examine  the  regulation  adopted  at  the  Pente- 
cost Chapter  of  1223,  alluded  to  by  Francis,  it  almost  frightens 
us  to  see  how  little  remains  of  what  he  desired.  It  runs  thus 
short  and  dry: 

"If  any  Brother,  incited  by  the  evil  enemy,  falls  into  mortal 
sin,  and  if  this  is  one  of  the  sins  which  only  the  minister  of 
the  province  can  absolve,  he  is  obliged  to  go  to  his  provincial 
minister  immediately.  And  if  the  minister  is  a  priest,  he 
shall  prescribe  a  penance  for  him  and  absolve  him,  but  if  he 
is  not  a  priest,  then  he  shall  let  another  priest  in  the  Order 
give  him  a  penance,  as  it  seems  to  him  most  serviceable 
in  the  Lord.  And  the  ministers  ought  to  be  on  their 
guard  that  they  are  not  angry  or  irritated  over  the  sins  of 
others,  for  anger  and  irritation  are  hindrances  to  Christian 
charity."1 

This  leads  up  to  a  correct  canonical  mode  of  procedure,  with 
some  admonitions  which  belong  elsewhere,2  but  which  were 
given  a  place  here  to  appease  Francis  in  some  measure.  And 
what  has  become  of  all  of  the  deep  evangelical  charity  of  Fran- 
cis' letter — the  charity  which,  face  to  face  with  the  obdurate 

1  Reg.  secunda,  cap.  VII.  2  Admonitio  XI. 


ELIA  S     OF     CORTONA 


251 


or  perhaps  defiant  sinner,  is  seized  by  innermost  pity  for  his 
poor  unfortunate  soul  and  goes  to  him,  falls  on  his  neck,  and 
whispers  in  his  ear,  "  Brother,  dear,  dear  Brother,  wilt  thou 
not  pray  for  forgiveness?  "  What  is  there  left  of  the  prescrip- 
tions in  Francis'  draught  that  no  Brother  shall  cast  a  stone 
at  the  sinner,  that  all  shall  keep  silent  about  his  fault  and  help 
him,  as  they  themselves  will  some  time  need  to  be  helped,  and 
that  if  it  is  only  a  venial  sin  (peccatum  veniale),  then  shall 
nothing  be  said  to  him  other  than  the  word  of  Jesus  to  the 
sinful  woman,  "Go  and  sin  no  more!" 

It  often  happened  to  Francis  that  what  he  had  written  was 
erased  or  changed  beyond  all  recognition.  Thus  the  great 
reverence  he  had  for  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  caused  him 
to  ordain  that  if  the  Brothers  ever  found  a  piece  of  paper  on 
which  the  words  of  consecration  of  the  mass,  or  even  the 
word  "  God"  or  "Lord,"  was  written  lying  in  an  inappropriate 
place,  they  should  reverentially  take  up  the  paper  and  pre- 
serve it  with  reverence.  This  unceasing  fine  character  of 
reverence,  that  could  not  bear  to  see  holy  words  in  wrong 
places,  the  leaders  of  the  Brotherhood  did  not  openly  entrust 
to  the  Brothers  —  the  reason  given  to  Francis  was  that  it 
would  be  difficult  for  them  to  observe  such  a  command!  To 
him  it  was  almost  a  real  sorrow  of  the  soul  that  the  word  of 
the  gospel,  which  had  once  had  so  great  an  effect  upon  him 
and  his  first  friends  —  the  words  which  had  spoken  to  him 
in  the  Mass  of  St.  Matthias  at  Portiuncula,  and  which  he  had 
afterwards  found  in  the  Scripture  with  Bernard  of  Quintavalle 
—  that  the  words  "Take  nothing  for  your  journey;  neither 
staff,  nor  scrip,  nor  bread,  nor  money"  were  not  to  be  allowed 
to  stand  in  the  Rule  he  was  finally  to  give  the  Brethren. 
This  was  mercilessly  omitted,  and  in  spite  of  all  Francis' 
humility  this  was  very  hard  for  him  to  endure.  The  line 
drawn  through  these  words  of  the  gospel  went  like  a  sting 
through  Francis'  heart;  yes,  he  felt  as  if  all  that  he  had  lived 
for,  and  for  whose  carrying  into  practice  he  had  devoted  his 
life,  was  now  pronounced  a  cobweb  of  the  brain  and  an 
exaggerated  theory,  and  by  those  who  should  stand  closest 
to  him  and  should  be  the  ones  to  carry  out  his  work.  From 
this  time  to  the  end  Francis  was,  as  his  truest  friend  Leo 


252  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

has  put  it,  a  man  deathly  sick  and  marked  for  death,  erat 
prope  mortem  et  graviter  infirmabatur.1 

As  in  a  great  picture  the  later  legends  have  preserved  the 
memories  of  the  entire  strife  between  Francis  and  his  oppo- 
nents. 

Francis — thus  we  are  told  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis  and 
by  Conrad  of  Offida  —  had  betaken  himself  to  the  hermitage 
of  Fonte  Colombo  in  Rieti,  there  to  give  the  last  touches  to 
the  Rule  of  the  Order  with  fasting  and  prayer,  and  he  had 
chosen  Brother  Leo  and  Brother  Bonizio  as  his  companions. 

"And  Francis  was  in  a  cave  in  the  mountain  side  a  stone's 
throw  from  the  others,  and  what  the  Lord  revealed  to  him  in 
prayer,  that  he  told  them.  And  Brother  Bonizio  dictated 
and  Brother  Leo  wrote.  .  .  . 

"It  happened  that  there  was  a  great  commotion  among 
all  the  Brothers  in  Italy,  because  Francis  was  writing  a  new 
Rule,  and  the  one  minister  excited  the  next.  And  all  who 
were  in  Italy  went  to  Brother  Elias,  who  was  then  Vicar,  and 
said  to  him :  '  We  have  heard  that  Brother  Francis  is  writing 
a  new  Rule,  and  we  are  afraid  that  it  is  too  hard  to  be  followed. 
For  he  is  very  strict  with  himself  and  could  easily  command 
things  we  cannot  observe.  Say  this  to  him,  therefore,  before 
it  is  ratified  by  the  Pope ! ' 

"Then  Elias  answered  that  he  would  not  go  alone  to 
Francis,  and  they  went  together.  And  they  came  near  to  the 
place,  and  Brother  Elias  called  out,  'The  Lord  be  praised!' 
Then  Francis  came  out  and  saw  them  and  asked  Brother 
Elias, '  What  do  these  Brothers  want?  Have  I  not  said  that 
no  one  was  to  come  here?'  Brother  Elias  answered,  'It  is 
all  the  ministers  in  Italy,  who  have  heard  that  thou  writest 

*Spec.  perf.,  cap.  11.  See  also  cap.  3:  "licet  ministri  scirent  quod  secun- 
dum regulam  fratres  tenerentur  sanctum  evangelium  observare  nihilominus 
fecerunt  removeri  de  regula  illud  capitulum  Nihil  taleritis  in  via."  Cap.  65: 
"  Voluit  etiam  poni  in  regula  quod  ubicumque  fratres  invenirent  nomina  Domini. 
.  .  .  Et  licet  non  scriberentur  haec  in  regula,  quia  ministris  non  videbatur 
bonum,  ut  fratres  haec  haberent  in  mandatum."  Cap.  2:  "fecit  [Fr.]  in  regula 
plura  scribi,  quae  cum  assidua  oratione  et  meditatione  a  Domino  postulabat 
pro  utilitate  religionis,  affirmans  ea  penitus  esse  secundum  Dei  voluntatem, 
sed  postquam  ea  ostendebat  fratribus  videbantur  eis  gravia  et  importabilia.  .  .  . 
Et  nolebat  contendere  cum  eis."  Compare  Cel.,  Vita  secunda,  III,  122:  "Hoc 
sane  verbum  voluit  in  regula  ponere,  sed  bullatio  facta  praeclusit." 


ELIAS     OF     CORTONA  253 

a  new  Rule,  and  now  they  say  that  thou  shalt  write  it  so  that 
they  can  obey  it,  for  if  thou  dost  not  do  this,  they  will  not 
bind  themselves  by  it,  and  so  thou  canst  write  it  for  thyself 
and  not  for  them!' 

"Then  St.  Francis  lifted  up  his  voice  and  cried  out,  'O 
Lord,  answer  thou  for  me!'  And  then  all  heard  the  voice  of 
Christ  in  the  air,  which  said:  'Francis,  there  is  nothing  in 
the  Rule  of  thine  but  it  is  all  mine,  whatever  it  is,  and  I  wish 
that  the  Rule  shall  be  literally  obeyed,  literally,  without 
interpretation,  without  interpretation,  without  interpretation! 
And  whosoever  will  not  obey  it  may  leave  the  Order!'  Then 
St.  Francis  turned  to  the  Brothers  and  said  to  them,  'Have 
you  heard  that?  Have  you  heard  that?  Or  shall  it  be  said 
once  more  to  you?'     But  the  ministers  went  away  terrified."1 

This  relation,  which  is  also  found  in  Ubertino  of  Casale,  is 
evidently  not  intended  to  refer  to  the  Rule  ratified  by  the 
Pope  in  1223.  I  reached  this  conclusion  at  the  time  (1903) 
I  wrote  about  Fonte  Colombo  in  my  " Pilgrimsbogen "  ("The 
Pilgrim's  Book"),  and  I  argued  hotly  with  Paul  Sabatier  in 
its  introduction.  The  Rule,  to  which  the  above  relation 
refers,  and  which  Christ  in  apparition  approved,  is  quite 
clearly  an  earlier  Rule:  that,  namely,  of  which  Bonaventure 
speaks  in  his  biography,  saying  that  Brother  Elias  received 
it  from  Francis  and  soon  after  said  that  he  had  lost  it.2  It  was 
after  this  that,  at  a  new  residence  at  Monte  Colombo,  the  Rule 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  1.  Verba  jr.  Conradi,  I  (Sab.,  Opusc,  I,  pp.  370-374).  A 
description  of  Fonte  Colombo,  "the  Franciscan  Sinai,"  is  given  in  Jorgensen's 
"Pilgrimsbogen"  (Copenhagen,  1903),  chapters  VIII  to  X. 

2"Volens  igitur  confirmandam  regulam  ...  ad  compendiosiorem  formam 
.  .  .  redigere,  in  montem  quendam  cum  duobus  sociis  .  .  .  conscendit,  ubi 
pane  tantum  contentus  et  aqua,  ieiunans  conscribi  earn  fecit,  secundum  quod 
oranti  sibi  divinus  Spiritus  suggerebat.  Quam  cum  de  monte  descendens, 
servandam  suo  vicario  commississet,  et  ille  paucis  elapsis  diebus,  assereret  per 
incuriam  perditam."  Leg.  major,  IV,  11.  The  whole  description  tallies  with 
Spec.  perj.  and  originated  with  Brother  Illuminato  or  possibly  with  Brother 
Leo  himself.  The  Spec.  perj.  also  says  (cap.  1)  that  "secunda  regula,  quam 
fecit  B.  Franciscus,  perdita  fuit."  That  Brother  Elias  was  not  particular  in 
the  means  he  adopted  is  seen  from  his  most  evident  invention  ("frater  Helias 
dixerat,  se  fuisse  receptum  ad  ordinem  sub  alia  regula  domini  Innocentii  non 
bullata;  et  ideo,  quia  .  .  .  non  voverat  paupertatem  (!)  poterat  recipere 
pecuniam,  ut  dicebat."  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  231.  On  the  preceding  page  is 
Elias'  assertion  that,  in  accordance  with  Francis'  wish  "quam  secreto  didici," 
he  built  the  basilica  over  his  grave!), 


254  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

was  produced  which  Honorius  III  approved  on  November 
29,  1223,  and  which  Francis  wrote  because  he  "  feared  to 
irritate  the  Brothers  and  did  not  wish  to  contend  with  them, 
but  with  better  knowledge  he  acceded  to  them  and  excused 
himself  before  God.  And  as  for  the  word  of  the  Lord  which 
it  was  given  hi.n  to  announce,  that  it  might  not  remain 
without  fruit,  so  would  he  live  after  it  himself,  and  therein  he 
found  at  last  rest  and  comforted  himself  therewith."  l 

The  above  is  not  to  be  understood  as  if  the  Rule  approved 
by  Rome  was  quite  lacking  in  the  Franciscan  imprint.  On 
the  contrary,  if  we  knew  no  other  and  had  no  suspicions 
of  the  changes  it  has  undergone,  it  would  never  occur  to  us 
that  it  was  not  the  Rule  written  by  Francis'  own  hand.  In 
it  we  find  the  essential  maxims  characteristic  of  St.  Francis  — 
first  and  foremost,  in  the  very  prologue,  the  obligation  to 
"live  after  the  gospel,  in  obedience,  poverty  and  chastity." 
And  here  and  there  in  the  twelve  chapters,  of  which  the 
Rule,  in  accordance  with  Francis'  reverence  for  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  consists,  are  found  a  whole  series  of  real  Franciscan 
principles.  Thus  we  may  cite  the  absolute  prohibition  to 
accept  money  (cap.  IV)  and  to  own  nothing  (cap.  VI),  the 
command  to  work  (cap.  V),  without  shame  to  ask  for  alms 
(cap.  V),  to  wear  simple  clothes,  which  it  is  allowed  to  patch 
with  sackcloth  and  other  rags  (cap.  II)  without  the  Brothers 
in  the  pride  of  poverty  daring  to  condemn  those  who  dress  in 
fine  clothing  and  live  in  luxury  and  happiness  (same  chapter). 
As  the  Brothers  wander  through  the  world  they  should  be 
mild,  peaceful,  modest,  humble,  friendly  to  all.  They  shall 
not  contend  among  themselves  and  shall  judge  no  one.  When 
they  enter  a  house  their  greeting  shall  be  Pax  huic  domui, 
"Peace  be  to  this  house,"  and  what  is  put  before  them,  in 
accordance  with  the  gospel,  they  have  permission  to  eat 
(cap.  III).  The  Brothers  must  not  preach  if  the  Bishop  of 
the  place  is  opposed  to  it  (cap.  VI).  They  must  not  enter  a 
nuns'  convent  (cap.  XI).  Those  who  are  priests  shall  say 
their  office  after  the    custom  of    the  Roman   Church,  but 

1  Spec,  per/.,  cap.  2.  Especially  is  the  expression  to  be  noted:  "conde- 
scendebat  invitus  voluntati  eorum."  Francis  was  brought  to  this  in  opposition 
to  his  character  and  principles. 


ELIAS     OF     CORTONA  255 

lay-brothers  shall  say  the  Pater  nosier  (cap.  III).  Those 
who  cannot  read  shall  preferably  not  try  to  learn  to  do  so, 
but  they  shall  recollect  that  what  they  before  all  came  here 
for  is  to  refrain  from  all  pride,  all  vanity,  all  envy,  all  slander 
and  complaining,  all  covetousness  and  all  the  troubles  of  the 
world,  to  have  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  and  do  God's  work, 
always  to  pray  to  Him  out  of  a  pure  heart  and  preserve  humil- 
ity and  patience  in  persecutions  and  sickness,  and  to  love  them 
who  hate  us  and  torment  us  and  sue  us,  for  the  Lord  says: 
"Love  your  enemies  and  pray  for  them  who  persecute  you 
and  slander  you.  Blessed  are  you  who  suffer  persecution 
for  justice's  sake,  for  yours  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And 
he  who  endure th  to  the  end  shall  be  saved."     (Cap.  X.) 

Thus  in  spite  of  all,  even  to-day  in  the  Rule  of  the  Friars 
Minor  there  burns  a  flame  of  the  holy  fire  Francis  came  to 
the  world  to  kindle,  and  down  through  time  the  best  and 
noblest  among  the  Franciscans  have  devoted  their  lives  to 
keeping  this  flame  pure.  Sine  glossa,  sine  glossa,  these  words 
of  Christ  to  Brother  Elias  at  Fonte  Colombo  were  their 
war-cry  —  "without  interpretation,  without  change"  they 
wished  to  live  after  the  law  which  for  them  was  "the  book 
of  life,  the  hope  of  salvation,  the  seed  of  the  gospel,  the  way 
of  the  Cross,  the  state  of  perfection,  the  key  of  paradise,  a 
first  taste  and  an  aspiration  after  the  eternal  life."1  Down 
through  the  centuries  one  form  after  the  other  is  to  be  seen, 
in  whom  Francis  seems  to  have  again  come  to  life  —  John 
of  Parma,  Hubert  of  Casale,  Peter  John  Olivi,  Angelo  Clareno, 
Gentile  of  Spoleto,  Paolo  Trinci,  St.  Bernardine  of  Siena, 
Matteo  da  Basci,  Stefano  Molina.  Again  and  again  crowds 
of  barefoot  Brothers  gather  around  these  men  who  in  their 
coarse  brown  robes,  with  rope  around  their  waists,  go  to  the 
old  hermitages  where  Francis  and  his  first  Brothers  prayed, 
and  where  they  can  chant  the  old,  half-forgotten  chapters 
of  the  Rule  as  if  it  were  a  new  and  unheard  song,  telling 
them  to  "wander  through  the  world  as  pilgrims  and  as 
strangers  without  other  possessions  here  upon  earth  than  the 
inalienable  treasure  of  the  most  exalted  poverty"  (cap.  VI). 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  76.  Written  by  an  Umbrian  Spiritual  (i.e.,  a  Franciscan 
of  the  strict  observance.     See  Appendix,  p.  390).. 


256  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

There  is  a  tone  of  Portiuncula  and  Rivo  Torto  that  over  and 
over  again  exerts  its  great  power,  and  like  the  Swiss  sentinel 
who  on  Strassburgh's  rampart  heard  the  Kuhreigen  of  his 
childhood's  days  sung  across  the  Rhine,  the  Friars  Minor 
cast  all  things  away  which  might  hinder  them  in  swimming 
over  the  rapid  stream  to  their  fatherland  and  home. 


CHAPTER  XII 

TEE  LAST   VISIT   TO  ROME  AND   THE  CRIB 
AT  GRECCIO 

FRANCIS  was  last  in  Rome  in  the  year  1223,  to  obtain 
the  Papal  ratification  of  his  Rule,  and  Hugolin  was 
helpful  to  him  in  this.     "When  we  still  occupied  a 
lower  office  we  were  with  St.  Francis  when  writing 
the  Rule,  and  obtained  the  confirmation  of  it  by  the  Holy 
See,"  he  says  himself  in  1230  after  he  was  Pope.1 

During  this  visit  Francis  undoubtedly  again  visited  "Brother 
Jacoba,"  Jacopa  de  Settesoli,  who  in  12 17  had  become  a 
widow.  She  was  one  of  the  two  women  with  whose  features, 
according  to  his  own  statement,  he  was  acquainted  (the  other 
was  St.  Clara).2  In  her  house  he  felt  that  he  was  welcome  — 
it  was  his  own  Bethania,  and  Jacopa  was  Mary  and  Martha 
combined.  She  prepared  for  him  the  aliments  he  liked  — 
among  others  the  almond  cream  which  he  in  his  last  sickness 
thought  he  would  like  to  taste.3  In  return  he  gave  her  a 
legacy,  which  was  exactly  in  his  way  of  thought.  He  could 
never  bear  to  see  a  lamb  led  to  the  slaughter-house;  it  re- 
minded him  of  Jesus,  as  he  was  taken  to  Golgotha,  and  he 

1<<quum  ex  longa  familiaritate,  quam  idem  confessor  Nobiscum  habuit, 
plenius  noverimus  intentionem  ipsius;  et  in  condendo  praedictam  regulam 
obtinendo  confirmationem  ipsius  per  Sedem  Apostolicam  sibi  astiterimus, 
dum  adhuc  essemus  in  minori  officio  constitute."  (Gregor  IX's  Bull  Quo  elongati 
of  September  28,  1230  in  Appendix  to  Sabatier's  Spec,  per/.,  pp.  315-316.) 

2  Cel.,  Vit.  sec,  III,  c.  55  (Amoni). 

3  "Illam  autem  comestionem  vocant  Romani  mortariolum  quae  fit  de  amyg- 
dalis  et  zucario  et  de  aliis  rebus."     Spec.  (ed.  Sab.)  p.  221. 

Sabatier  identifies  this  favourite  food  of  Francis  with  the  well-known  stone- 
hard  Roman  mostaccioli  (see  Jorgensen's  "Pilgrimsbogen,"  p.  61).  On  the 
other  side  f.  Edouard  d'Alencon:  Frere  Jacqueline,  p.  19,  n.  2;  in  mortariolum 
(in  Old  French  mortairol)  he  sees  rather  "cette  creme  d'amandes  bien  connue 
aujourd'hui  sous  le  nom  de  frangipane,"  a  name  in  which  he  finds  an  allusion  to 
Jacopa's  name  (her  married  name  was  Frangipani). 
18  257 


258  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

always  tried,  when  he  could,  to  obtain  its  freedom.  Thus 
he  succeeded  in  the  Mark  of  Ancona  in  getting  a  merchant  to 
buy  the  lamb,  with  which  he  next  presented  himself  before 
the  Bishop  of  Osimo.  It  was  only  after  long  explanations 
that  Francis  succeeded  in  making  this  prelate  understand 
why  he  came  in  such  a  procession,  and  the  lamb  was  then 
given  to  the  Nuns  of  San  Severino.  Out  of  its  wool  a  habit 
was  made,  which  was  sent  to  Francis  at  the  next  Pentecost 
Chapter.1  On  another  occasion  Francis  gave  his  cloak  as 
ransom  for  two  small  lambs  which  a  peasant  was  carrying. 
"For  when  Francis  heard  the  lambs  bleating  his  heart  was 
moved,  and  he  went  and  caressed  them  and  comforted  them 
like  a  mother  who  comforts  her  crying  child.  And  he  said 
to  the  peasant,  'Why  do  you  torment  so  my  brothers  the 
lambs?'  But  the  peasant  answered,  'I  am  going  to  market 
with  them  to  sell  them.'  'And  then  what  will  they  do  with 
them?'  'Those  who  buy  them  will  slaughter  and  eat  them!' 
'That  will  not  soon  happen,'  said  Francis,  and  bought  them 
straightway  from  the  man."2  At  Portiuncula  he  long  had  a 
tame  lamb  which  followed  him  everywhere,  even  into  church, 
where  its  bleatings  were  mingled  with  the  songs  of  the 
Brethren.3 

Also  in  the  same  way  in  Rome,  Francis  had  procured  a  lamb 
for  himself,  which  upon  his  departure  he  gave  to  Jacopa. 
In  her  house  it  lived  long,  and  it  is  told  that  it  followed  her 
to  mass  in  the  morning  and  that,  in  its  eagerness  to  go  to 
church,  it  would  wake  its  mistress  with  little  friendly  buttings 
of  its  head  when  she  was  late  in  getting  up.4  Out  of  its  wool 
Jacopa  spun  and  wove  the  habit  which,  in  the  autumn  of 
1226,  she  took  with  her  to  Portiuncula,  and  in  which  Francis 
died.5 

It  was  not  only  the  kind  hospitality  of  Jacopa  de  Settesoli 
that  Francis  shared,  he  was  also  guest  among  the  Cardinals. 

1  Cel.,  Vita  prima,  I,  XXVIII,  n.  78. 

2  ibidem,  n.  79. 

3"ovis  autem  .  .  .  audiens  fratres  in  choro  cantare,  et  ipsa  ecclesiam 
ingrediens  .  .  .  vocem  balatus  emittens  ante  altare  Virginis,  Matris  Agni,  ac 
si  earn  salutare  gestiret"  (Bonav.,  VIII,  7). 

4  Bonaventure,  ibidem. 

6  E.  d'Alencon:  Frere  Jacqueline,  p.  24. 


THE     LAST     VISIT     TO     ROME  259 

He  followed  in  this  respect  his  Brothers'  example.  Already 
at  an  early  period  of  the  development  of  the  Order  several 
Cardinals  had  wished  to  have  a  Friar  Minor  with  them,  "not 
for  the  sake  of  any  use  or  service,  but  for  the  devotion  they 
nourished  for  the  holiness  of  the  Brothers."1  Thus  Brother 
Giles  lived  for  a  time  with  Cardinal  Nicholas  Chiaramonti,2 
Brother  Angelo  Tancredi  with  Cardinal  Leone  Brancaleone.3 
It  could  be  termed  a  pious  custom  at  the  Papal  Court  to 
have  a  Friar  Minor  in  the  house;  Thomas  of  Celano  censures 
sharply  the  idleness  and  life  of  luxury  of  these  "Court- 
Brothers."4 

In  Francis  was  lacking  the  material  for  such  a  Court-Brother 
{f rater  palatinus).  In  Hugolin's  house  he  never  forgot  to  go 
out  and  beg  his  food  and  to  bring  the  bread  thus  acquired  to 
the  Cardinal's  table.6  And  scarcely  had  he  with  the  domesti- 
cated Brother  Angelo  installed  himself  with  Cardinal  Leo, 
where  there  was  given  them  a  lonely  tower  which  the  Cardinal 
said  was  as  good  as  a  hermitage,  when  the  tormentors  of  the 
demon  came  on  the  first  night  and  fell  upon  Francis. 

"But  the  next  morning  Francis  said  to  Brother  Angelo: 
'Why  have  the  demons  beaten  me,  and  why  has  the  Lord 
given  them  power  over  me?  The  demons  are  our  Lord's 
chastisers,  for  as  the  civil  authorities  send  their  guastaldi  6  to 
punish  those  who  have  done  wrong,  thus  does  the  Lord 
chastise  and  punish  by  his  guastaldi,  who  are  the  devils,  those 
whom  he  loves.  For  the  Lord  really  loves  those  for  whom 
he  leaves  nothing  unpunished  in  this  life. 

And  I  am  now  firmly  of  opinion,  that  with  God's  grace 
I  have  offended  in  nothing,  without  having  done  the  utmost 
therefor  to  have  my  injustice  absolved  and  make  it  good 
again.     But  it  may  be  that  this  punishment  is  sent  to  me 

1  "unusquique  eorum"  [i.e.,  cardinalium]  "  desiderabat  habere  in  curia  de 
ipsis  fratribus  non  pro  aliquo  servitio  recipiendo  ab  ipsis,  sed  propter  sanctita- 
tem  fratrum  et  devotionem  qua  fervebant  ad  eos"  (Tres  Socii,  cap.  XV,  ed. 
Amoni,  p.  88). 

2  See  page  109. 

3  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  605,  n.  322. 

4  Vita  sec,  II,  84  and  85  (d'Alencon). 

6  Spec,  per/.,  cap.  23.     Cel.,  Vita  sec.,  II,  43  (d'Al.). 
6  A  Lombard  word,  corrector  or  provost. 


260  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

because  I  have  accepted  the  Cardinal's  friendly  invitation. 
For  even  if  I  can  accept  it,  then  my  Brothers  will  hear  of  it, 
who  wander  in  foreign  lands  and  suffer  hunger  and  many 
troubles,  and  my  other  Brothers  who  live  in  hermitages  and 
in  poor  little  huts  will  hear  of  it,  too,  and  then  they  will  com- 
plain about  me  perhaps  and  say,  "We  have  to  suffer  while 
he  is  in  comfort! "  For  I  am  given  to  the  Brothers  for  a  good 
example,  and  it  is  of  more  edification  to  them  if  I  am  with 
them  in  their  poor  little  houses,  and  they  will  bear  their  lot 
more  patiently  when  they  see  that  I  have  no  better  lot  than 
theirs.'"1 

On  that  very  day  Francis  bade  farewell  to  the  Cardinal 
and  his  tower,  and  although  it  was  a  bitter  cold  December 
day,  when  the  rain  pours  almost  constantly  down  from  the 
Roman  sky,  he  was  not  to  be  held  back.  Porta  Salara  was 
soon  behind  him  and  Francis  went  to  the  north,  on  the  miry 
road,  in  blasts  of  wind  and  teeming  rain.  Notwithstanding 
the  grey  sky  and  the  rainy  weather  his  heart  was  filled  with 
sunlight  all  at  once,  and  he  involuntarily  went  ahead  faster 
so  as  soon  to  see  his  dear  valley  of  Rieti  and  again  to  be 
among  the  faithful  Brothers  in  Fonte  Colombo. 

And  now  another  comfort  awaited  him  above,  among  the 
wild  Sabine  Hills. 

Since  his  trip  to  the  Holy  Land  and  his  visit  to  Bethlehem, 
Francis  had  a  special  devotion  to  the  Christmas  time.  One 
year  the  festival  fell  on  a  Friday,  and  Brother  Morico  pro- 
pounded to  the  Brothers  the  opinion,  that  for  that  reason 
meat  might  not  be  eaten  on  Christmas  day.  "If  it  is  Christ- 
mas it  is  not  Friday,"  replied  Francis.  "If  the  walls  could 
eat  flesh,  I  would  give  them  it  to-day,  but  as  they  cannot, 
I  will  at  least  rub  them  over  with  it!"  He  often  said  of  this 
day:  "If  I  knew  the  Emperor,  I  would  ask  him  that  all 
would  be  ordered  on  this  day  to  throw  out  corn  to  the  birds, 
especially  to  our  sisters  the  larks,  and  that  every  one  who  has 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  67.  Compare  for  Francis'  relation  to  the  demons  Spec. 
Perf.,  c.  59  (he  was  disturbed  by  them  at  night  in  the  church  of  S.  Pietro  di 
Bovara,  near  Trevi);  Bartholi,  cap.  8  (Coll.,  II,  p.  18;  in  the  church  Quatuor 
Capellae,  outside  of  Todi,  Francis  was  tempted  to  give  up  his  life  of  penance); 
Actus,  c.  31  (Francis  saw  that  it  was  the  devil  who  showed  himself  to  Rufino 
in  the  form  of  Christ). 


THE     LAST    VISIT     TO     ROME  261 

a  beast  in  the  stable  should  give  them  a  specially  good  feed 
for  love  of  the  Child  Jesus  born  in  a  manger.  And  this  day 
the  rich  should  feast  all  the  poor."  1 

In  the  year  1223  Francis  himself  celebrated  Christmas  in 
a  way  the  world  had  never  seen  the  match  of.  In  Greccio 
he  had  a  friend  and  well-wisher,  Messer  John  Vellita,  who 
had  given  him  and  his  Brothers  a  wood-grown  cliff  up  above 
Greccio,  for  them  to  live  there.  Francis  now  had  this  man 
called  to  Colombo  and  said  to  him:  "I  want  to  celebrate  the 
holy  Christmas  night  along  with  thee,  and  now  listen,  how  I 
have  thought  it  out  for  myself.  In  the  woods  by  the  cloister 
thou  wilt  find  a  cave,  and  there  thou  mayest  arrange  a  manger 
filled  with  hay.  There  must  also  be  an  ox  and  an  ass,  just 
as  in  Bethlehem.  I  want  for  once  to  celebrate  seriously  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  God  upon  earth  and  see  with  my  own 
eyes  how  poor  and  miserable  he  wished  to  be  for  our  sakes." 

John  Vellita  looked  after  all  of  Francis'  wishes,  and  at 
midnight  of  Christmas  eve  the  Brothers  came  together  to 
celebrate  the  festival  of  Christmas.  All  carried  lighted 
torches,  and  around  the  manger  the  Brothers  stood  with 
their  candles,  so  that  it  was  light  as  the  day  under  the  dark 
vaulting  of  the  rocks.  Mass  was  said  over  the  manger  as 
the  altar,  so  that  the  Divine  Child  under  the  forms  of  bread 
and  wine  should  himself  come  to  the  place,  as  bodily  and 
discernibly  he  had  been  in  the  stable  of  Bethlehem.  For 
a  moment  it  seemed  to  John  Vellita  that  he  saw  a  real  child 
lying  in  the  manger,  but  as  if  dead  or  sleeping.  Then  Brother 
Francis  stepped  forward  and  took  it  lovingly  in  his  arms, 
and  the  child  smiled  at  Francis,  and  with  his  little  hands 
stroked  his  bearded  chin  and  his  coarse  grey  habit.  And 
yet  this  vision  did  not  astonish  Messer  Giovanni  (John). 
For  Jesus  had  been  dead  or  else  asleep  in  many  hearts,  but 
Brother  Francis  had  by  his  voice  and  his  example  again 
restored  the  Divine  Child  to  life  and  awakened  it  from  its 
trance. 

As  the  Gospel  was  now  sung,  Francis  stepped  forward 
in  his  deacon's  vestments.  "Deeply  sighing,  overcome  by 
the  fullness  of  his  devotion,  filled  with  a  wonderful  joy,  the 

1Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  151  (d'AL).     Spec,  perf.,  cap.  114. 


262  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

holy  one  of  God  stood  by  the  manger,"  says  Thomas  of  Celano.1 
"And  his  voice,  his  strong  voice,  and  glad  voice,  clear  voice 
and  ringing  voice  invited  all  to  seek  the  highest  good." 

Brother  Francis  preached  on  the  Child  Jesus.  "With 
words  that  dripped  with  sweetness,  he  spoke  of  the  poor 
King  who  is  born  in  the  night,  and  who  is  the  Lord  Jesus 
in  the  city  of  David.  And  every  time  he  would  name  the 
name  of  Jesus,  the  fire  of  his  love  overcame  him,  and  he 
called  him  instead  the  Child  from  Bethlehem.  And  the 
word  Bethlehem  he  said  with  a  sound  as  if  of  a  lamb  that 
bleats,  and  when  he  had  named  the  name  of  Jesus,  he  let  his 
tongue  glide  over  his  lips  as  if  to  taste  the  sweetness  this 
name  had  left  there  as  it  passed  over  them.  The  holy  watch- 
night  only  ended  late,  and  every  one  went  with  joy  to  his 
home. 

"But  later  the  place  where  the  manger  stood  was  dedicated 
to  the  Lord  for  a  temple,  and  over  the  manger  an  altar  was 
erected  to  the  honor  of  our  blessed  Father  Francis,  so  that 
where  the  dumb  animals  formerly  ate  hay  out  of  the  manger, 
there  men  now  receive  the  spotless  lamb,  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  for  the  salvation  of  their  soul  and  body,  he  who  in 
unspeakable  love  gave  his  blood  for  the  life  of  the  world, 
and  who  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost  in  eternal 
divine  glory  lives  and  rules  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

1  Vita  prima,  I,  c.  XXX.     Compare  Tractatus  de  miraculis,  c.  Ill,  n.  19. 


BOOK    FOUR 

FRANCIS   THE   HERMIT 


Corpus  est  cella  nostra,  et  anima  est 
eremita  qui  moratur  intus  in  cella  ad 
orandum  Dominum  et  meditandum  de 
ipso. 

The  body  is  our  cell,  and  the  soul  is  a 
hermit  who  stays  within  in  the  cell  for 
praying  to  the  Lord  and  for  meditating 
on  him. 

Francis  in  Speculum  perfectionis. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  WRITER 

FROM  this  period  to  the  day  of  his  death  Francis  had 
two  things  to  live  for  —  to  live  himself  in  accordance 
with  the  gospel  to  the  last  degree  of  perfection  and 
thus  by  his  example  to  show  the  Brethren  the  right 
way,  and  next  by  new  writings  to  supply  what  was  wanting 
in  the  Rule  approved  by  the  Pope,  and  what  he  was  not  per- 
mitted to  say  in  it.  Those  days  in  which  Francis,  at  first 
alone  and  then  with  a  following  of  the  Brothers,  went  about 
like  an  evangelist  and  one  of  God's  singers,  were  past  and  gone; 
in  the  years  which  were  left  to  him,  he  was  to  work  with 
his  pen  and  in  private  life. 

A  considerable  part  of  these  his  last  years  Francis  spent 
in  the  valley  of  Rieti.  This  valley,  traversed  by  the  river 
Velino,  stretches  from  Terni  down  towards  Aquila,  is  bordered 
on  the  one  side  by  the  Sabine  Hills,  on  the  other  by  the  mighty, 
cloud-covered  and  snow-clad  Abruzzi,  and  had  been  the  scene 
of  one  of  Francis'  earliest  mission  journeys.  Every  one  of 
the  little  towns  which  now  as  then  hang  on  the  mountain 
side  or  cover  the  mountain  tops  recalled  to  him  the  time 
before  any  of  his  illusions  had  vanished,  and  when  he  had 
still  entertained  the  possibility  of  throwing  a  bridge  across 
from  heaven  to  earth  to  take  all  mankind  with  himself  into 
paradise.  He  had  now  fully  learned  of  what  stuff  men  are 
made,  and  that  some,  as  in  the  gospel,  are  taken  up  with 
their  oxen,  others  with  their  crops,  when  the  invitations  go 
out  for  the  great  supper.  But  Francis  knew  also,  what  again 
is  to  be  found  in  the  gospel  —  that  the  master  in  the  heavenly 
kingdom  was  enraged  and  said  to  his  servants:  "Go  out 
quickly  into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city,  and  bring  in 
hither  the  poor,  and  the  feeble,  and   the  blind  .   .   .  that 

265 


266  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

my  house  may  be  filled!"  With  greater  faith  than  ever 
Francis  took  up  the  precepts  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount: 
"Blessed  are  the  poor,  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  Blessed 
are  the  pure  of  heart!" 

After  this,  when  he  spoke  to  his  Brothers  it  was  not  as  one 
having  authority  over  them.  He  still  can  be  disturbed  by 
ministers  and  prelates  who  send  his  Brothers  where  he  does 
not  want  them  to  go,  and  in  the  emotions  of  the  moment  he 
can  break  out:  "Who  are  you  that  have  dared  to  take  my 
Brothers  away  from  me?"1  But  he  depends  on  God  and 
on  His  guastaldi;  if  the  Friars  Minor  fall  away  from  their 
ideal,  men  will  despise  them,  yes,  persecute  them  and  thus 
drive  them  back  into  the  right  paths.2  He  himself  is  no 
longer  obliged  to  do  more  than  pray  for  the  Brethren  and 
by  his  example  hold  up  the  ideal  before  their  eyes,  so  that 
no  excuse  can  be  offered  for  remissness.  Can  God  well  ask 
more  of  a  sick  man?3 

And  this  is  the  place  to  speak  of  Francis'  sickness  or  sick- 
nesses, as  especially  they  afflicted  him  in  the  last  years  of  his 
life.  His  health  had,  as  we  know,  never  been  very  good. 
We  see  him  in  his  youth  attacked  by  one  fever  after  another. 
Since  then  his  many  and  long  fasts  had  undermined  his  con- 
stitution. Demons  could  drive  him  to  the  border  of  despair 
by  saying  to  him,  "  There  is  salvation  for  every  sinner,  ex- 
cept for  him  who  has  ruined  himself  by  excessive  penances!  "4 
He  seldom  ate  food  that  was  prepared,  and  dusted  it  in  such 
case  by  throwing  ashes  on  it,  saying,  that  "  Sister  ashes  was 
chaste."  He  slept  but  little,  and  then  by  choice  sitting,  or 
with  a  stone  or  log  of  wood  for  a  pillow.6  In  Carceri  and 
later  at  La  Verna  his  bed  was  the  bare  rock.  After  he  had 
led  this  life  for  twenty  years  his  body  was  all  broken  down; 
he  had  haemorrhages  from  the  stomach  and  the  Brothers 
often  believed  his  end  was  near.6 

To  this  must  be  added  the  misfortune,  that  Francis  during 
his  stay  in  the  Orient  had  contracted  the  Egyptian  eye- 
sickness,  so  that  at  times  he  was  nearly  blind.     It  was  no 

1Spec  per/.,  cap.  41.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  18  (Amoni). 

*Spec,  c.  71.         *Spec,  c.  81.         4  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  82  (d'Al.). 

6  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  c.  XIX.     Bonav.,  V,  1.  6  Cel,  V.  pr.,  II,  VII,  n.  105. 


THE     WRITER  267 

wonder  then,  that  in  a  letter,  written  in  that  year,  he  signs 
himself  as  homo  caducus,  "a  decrepit  man."  l  It  was  almost 
a  matter  of  necessity  for  him  to  be  restricted  to  an  apos- 
tolate  by  letters  in  which  his  zeal  for  leading  men  to 
heaven  found  expression  up  to  the  last.  In  this  last  epoch 
of  his  life  Francis  sent  out  five  letters  or  circular  epistles  — 
a  letter  to  all  Christians,  a  letter  to  a  Pentecost  Chapter  at 
which  he  could  not  be  present  (1224),  a  letter  to  all  clerics,  a 
letter  to  all  guardians  (custodes)  and  a  letter  to  all  Superiors. 
To  these  must  be  added  his  testament,  the  testament  to  the 
Clares,  and  finally  his  religious  poetry  —  above  all  his  Song 
to  the  Sun.  To  the  same  time  we  may  certainly  assign  a 
little  autograph  writing  or  letter  to  Brother  Leo. 

But  now  we  must  not  expect  to  find  in  the  letters  of  Francis 
of  Assisi  new  and  surprising  thoughts.  It  was  precisely  the 
old  thoughts  he  wished  to  inculcate.  The  letters,  moreover, 
are  addressed  to  various  circles,  so  that  Francis  had  no  rea- 
son to  avoid  repetition.  A  careless  reader  will  find  the  five 
letters,  therefore,  poor  in  ideas  and  tiring  with  their  constant 
repetition  of  two  or  three  topics,  but  —  Boehmer  remarks  — 
"if  one  thinks  of  the  personality  that  stood  behind  the  words, 
the  simple  and  unlearned  man  from  Assisi  in  all  his  naivete 
and  abounding  love,  then  do  the  dead  words  become  loving 
flesh,  and  the  poverty  of  spirit  reveals .  itself  as  richness. 
For  the  little  which  Francis  possessed  was  not  learned  or 
prepared,  it  filled  and  possessed  him  completely,  and  there- 
fore his  words,  notwithstanding  all  outer  lack  of  elegance, 
acted  on  men  with  the  power  of  a  revelation."  2 

If  we  read  through  these  letters  of  Francis,  we  find  in  reality 
nothing  else  in  them  than  what  we  already  are  familiar  with 
in  his  Admonitiones  and  in  his  Regula  prima,  and  in  his  letter 
to  Elias.  There  are  the  same  precepts  to  serve  and  love  God, 
to  live  a  life  of  conversion,  to  fast  —  also  in  metaphorical 
sense  to  fast  from  sin  and  crime3  —  to  love  and  help  our 
enemies,  not  to  seek  worldly  wisdom  or  exalted  positions, 
to  pray  much,  to  confess  and  approach  the  altar,  to  try  to 

1  Ep.  ad.  cap.  generate  (Bohmer,  " Analekten,"  p.  57). 

2  "Analekten,"  52-53. 

1  "Debemus  etiam  jejunare  et  abstinere  a  vitiis  et  peccatis"  (Anal.,  p.  52). 


268  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

do  good  where  we  have  been  doing  evil.  The  last  precept 
gave  Francis  a  chance  in  one  of  his  documents,  in  a  letter  we 
might  call  a  contemplative  epistle,  to  introduce  a  description 
of  how  a  sinner  dies  (De  infirmo  qui  male  poenitet).1 

"The  body  sickens,  death  approaches,"  Francis  writes. 
"The  relatives  and  friends  come  and  say,  'Prepare  thy  house!' 
And  his  wiie  and  children,  his  nearest  ones  and  his  friends,  act 
as  if  they  wept.  And  the  sick  one  looks  around  and  sees 
them  weep  and  is  moved  by  a  false  emotion  and  thinks  to 
himself,  '  Yes,  I  will  give  over  myself  with  soul  and  body  and 
all  that  I  have  into  your  faithful  hands!'  Truly  the  man 
is  damned,  who  gives  his  soul,  his  body  and  all  he  has,  into 
such  hands  and  depends  upon  them!  Therefore  the  Lord 
says  through  the  prophet,  'Cursed  is  he  who  depends  upon 
a  man ! '  And  at  once  the  priest  is  brought.  And  the  priest 
says  to  him,  '  Dost  thou  wish  to  do  penance  for  all  thy  trans- 
gressions?' The  sick  man  answers,  'Yes.'  And  the  priest 
asks,  'Wilt  thou  give  reparation  to  all  whom  thou  hast 
defrauded  and  betrayed,  as  far  as  thou  canst?'  He  answers 
'No.'  And  the  priest  says,  'Why  not?'  He  answers, 
'Because  I  have  given  all  to  my  family  and  to  my  friends.' 
And  thereby  he  misses  his  goal,  and  dies  without  having  done 
reparation  for  his  injustice.  But  what  all  must  know  is  this, 
that  where  and  however  a  man  dies  in  grievous  sin  without 
having  made  good  his  injustice,  when  he  could  have  done  it, 
but  would  not,  such  a  soul  the  devil  at  once  takes,  and  how 
great  his  sorrow  and  pain  becomes  no  one  knows,  except  he 
who  experiences  it.  And  all  motion  and  all  power,  all  knowl- 
edge and  wisdom  he  thought  he  had,  all  that  is  taken  away 
from  him.  And  he  leaves  after  him  his  property  for  his 
family  and  his  friends,  and  they  take  and  divide  it  up  among 
themselves  and  say  thereafter,  'May  his  soul  be  cursed,  that 
he  has  not  earned  more  for  us  and  left  us  more ! '  And  thus 
he  loses  all  in  this  world,  and  in  the  other  is  tormented  in 
everlasting  hell." 

There  is  in  this  picture  a  bitterness  in  the  comprehension 
of  mankind,  that  is  elsewhere  not  to  be  found  in  Francis. 
It  is  no  comfortable  picture,  he  sketches,  of  these  selfish 

xEp.  ad  omnes  fideles,  §  12  (Anal.,  pp.  55~56). 


THE     WRITER  269 

" nearest  ones,"  who  stand  around  the  bed  of  the  dying  man, 
and  willingly  let  him  go  to  hell,  as  long  as  they  can  get  him 
to  make  a  will  in  their  favor.  And  when  they  have  by 
their  hypocritical  emotions  induced  the  man  they  pretend 
to  love  to  end  his  unjust  life  with  a  last  irreparable  crime, 
they  curse  him,  as  soon  as  he  has  closed  his  eyes  on  this  life 
and  has  opened  them  in  everlasting  torments,  because  he  has 
not  scraped  together  more  for  their  benefit.  All  through  his 
life  they  have  seen  in  him  only  a  work-slave  whose  wages 
they  were  to  get,  indifferent  whether  they  were  justly  or 
unjustly  earned.  That  he  risked  his  eternal  salvation  to 
accumulate  money  enough,  that  never  for  a  moment  occurs  to 
them  —  why  should  they  think  of  that  now  in  his  last  mo- 
ments? We  feel  as  if  we  were  reading  one  of  Leo  Tolstoy's 
most  gripping  novels  —  for  example,  the  short  story  which  is 
called,  " Before  the  Judgment  Seat  of  Death,"  and  which 
treats  of  how  Ivan  Ilitsch  under  his  long  last  illness  lay  and 
discovered  that  he  never  had  been  loved,  that  his  wife  had 
never  seen  in  him  anything  as  far  as  she  was  concerned  but 
a  source  of  money  for  her  and  nothing  else,  and  perceived  that 
his  children  were  trained  to  the  same,  to  regard  him  as  the 
old  man  who  was  good  to  " touch,"  and  who  now  unfortu- 
nately was  " going  off."  But  more  unfortunate  than  Ivan 
Ilitsch,  the  dying  man  of  Francis  of  Assisi's  little  tale  does 
not  get  his  eyes  opened  before  it  is  too  late  —  and  too  late 
for  ever. 

In  the  letter  to  the  Brethren  assembled  at  the  Chapter  of 
Pentecost,  1224,  in  the  letter  to  the  clerics  and  to  the  guardians 
(Superiors  of  convents),  Francis  especially  seeks  to  emphasize 
the  precepts  which  had  been  omitted  from  the  Rule.  He 
exhorts  the  Brethren  to  great  reverence  for  the  sacrament  of 
the  altar;  if  a  number  of  priests  are  together  only  one  mass 
is  to  be  said,  which  the  others  can  be  content  at  being  present 
at;  he  says  to  pick  up  every  piece  of  paper  on  which  holy 
words  may  be  and  to  preserve  such  with  reverence;  the 
Office  is  to  be  said  with  more  regard  to  inner  devotion  than  to 
melody  of  voice,1   the   sacred   vessels   and   the   altar-cloths 

1  "non  attendentes  melodiam  vocis,  sed  consonantiam  mentis."  ("Ano- 
lekten"  p.  61.) 


270  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

should  be  kept  shiningly  clean,  and  the  most  holy  sacrament 
should  be  preserved  with  reverence.  And  when  it  is  offered 
on  the  altar  in  the  mass,  all  shall  kneel  down,  praise  and 
glorify  God,  and  the  church  bells  are  to  be  rung  so  that  all 
near  can  participate  in  this  giving  of  praise. 

"And  I,  Brother  Francis,  your  little  servant,  pray  and  be- 
seech you  in  charity,  which  is  God  himself,  and  with  the 
desire  to  kiss  your  feet,  that  you  with  humility  and  charity 
accept  these  and  other  of  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  practise  them  and  keep  them  perfectly.  And  they  who 
cannot  read,  let  them  often  have  them  read  for  them  and  have 
them  with  them  and  live  after  them  to  the  end  with  holy 
actions,  for  these  words  are  spirit  and  life.  And  whoso  does 
not  do  this  shall  be  called  to  account  at  the  last  day  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  Christ.  And  all  those  who  accept  the 
word  with  joy  and  embrace  it  and  live  after  it,  an  example  to 
others,  and  persevere  to  the  end,  may  they  be  blessed  by 
God  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.     Amen."  x 

It  seems  to  have  been  at  this  time  that  Francis  conceived 
the  idea  of  sending  Brothers  out  to  all  the  provinces  with 
beautiful,  bright  ciboria  {pyxides),  and  everywhere  where 
they  found  the  Lord's  Body  improperly  preserved,  they 
should  give  the  priest  of  the  place  one  of  the  new  altar- vessels. 
Other  Brothers  he  would  send  out  with  good,  ornamented 
host-irons  to  make  beautiful  and  pure  altar-bread  with.2 
It  is  certain,  that  none  of  these  plans  was  widely  carried  out; 
yet  in  the  convent  of  Greccio  a  host-iron  is  to  be  found,  which 
it  is  said  was  presented  by  Francis.3 

The  letter  to  all  authorities,  namely,  "all  podestas,  consuls, 
judges  and  rectors,"  originated  in  Francis'  anxiety  to  work 
also  upon  the  community.  Religion  was  for  him  no  private 
affair  —  it  was  also  an  affair  of  the  public  at  large.  He 
therefore  exhorts  all  those  who  are  in  authority  not  to  forget 

1  Ep.  ad  omnes  fideles  in  fine.     (Bohmer,  pp.  56-57.) 

*Spec.  perf.,  cap.  65.     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  152  (d'Al.). 

3  On  page  29  is  given  a  sketch  of  the  design  which  is  engraved  on  this  iron. 
As  I  have  often  been  told,  the  inscription  is  I  H  C  ( =  I  H  S,  the  three  first 
letters  of  the  Greek  Jesus)  except  that  the  H  is  so  separated  by  the  engraving 
of  the  ornament,  that  it  seems  to  be  I  I  I  C,  which  I  (and  with  me  the  Fathers 
in  Greccio)  would  actually  read  as  a  number. 


THE    WRITER  271 

in  the  presence  of  their  manifold  tasks  the  one  thing  needful. 
When  death  comes  what  is  there  left?  As  Verlaine  was  to 
sing  seven  hundred  years  later  —  et  puis,  quand  la  mort 
viendra,  que  reste-t-il?  Therefore  Francis  exhorted  all  the 
mighty  lords  to  approach  the  altar  just  like  common  men, 
and  as  power  is  for  the  present  given  to  them,  let  them  make 
a  good  use  of  it  by  means  of  a  herald,  or  in  some  other  way 
have  a  signal  given,  and  when  people  hear  that  signal  they 
shall  all  praise  and  glorify  God.1 

The  letter  to  Brother  Leo  seems  to  have  been  written  at 
the  time  when  the  indignation  and  grief  over  the  many 
alterations  and  erasures  in  the  Rule  were  still  fresh  both  with 
him  and  the  master.  It  is  not  written  in  nearly  so  care- 
fully labored  a  style  as  the  great  circular  letters,  in  which 
possibly  also  Caesarius  of  Speier,  who  on  June  n,  1223  was 
back  from  Germany,  was  a  collaborator.2  The  whole  letter 
reads: 

''Brother  Leo,  thy  Brother  Francis  sends  thee  greeting  and 
peace! 

"I  speak  thus  to  you,  my  son,  and  as  a  mother,  because  all 
the  words  which  we  spoke  upon  the  road  I  arrange  in  this 
word  and  advice,  and  in  case  thou  hast  to  come  to  me  for 
advice  afterwards,  for  thus  I  do  advise  thee:  In  whatever 
way  it  seems  better  to  thee  to  please  the  Lord  God  and  follow 
in  His  steps  and  poverty,  do  so  with  the  blessing  of  the  Lord 
God  and  with  my  obedience.  And,  if  it  is  necessary  to  thee 
on  account  of  thy  soul  or  of  other  consolation  of  thine,  and 
thou  desirest,  Leo,  to  come  to  me,  come."3 

ll'Analekten,"  p.  71.  We  can  here  see  the  germ  of  the  later  Franciscan 
Angelus  prayers.  The  General  Chapter  in  Pisa  (1263)  ordered  an  Ave  Maria 
said  when  the  evening  bell  rang  (Anal.  Fr.,  Ill,  p.  329).  In  1295  a  Provincial 
Chapter  for  Padua,  Venice,  Verona,  and  Friaul  ordered  three  Aves  to  be  said 
at  the  same  time  of  the  day.  (See  C.  A.  Kneller:  "Znr  Geschichte  des  Gebetslaii- 
tens"  in  the  "Ztschr.  f.  kath.  Theol.,"  1904,  pp.  394  et  seq.)  —  The  letter  to 
all  Superiors  is  found  for  the  first  time  in  Gonzaga  (Be  orig.  seraph,  relig., 
pp.  806  et  seq.)  from  a  Spanish  translation. 

2Jordanus,  nn.  30-31  (Anal.  Fr.,  I,  p.  n). 

3"F.  Leo  F.  Francisco  tuo"  [Italianism  for:  Franciscus  tuus]  "salutem  et 
pacem.  Ita  dico  tibi,  fili  mi,  et  sicut  mater,  quia  omnia  verba,  quae  diximus 
in  via,  breviter  in  hoc  verbo  dispono  et  consilio,  et  si  te  post  oportet  propter 
consilium  venire  ad  me,  quia  ita  consilio  tibi:  In  quocumque  modo  melius 
videtur  tibi  placere  Domino  Deo  et  sequi  vestigia  et  paupertatem  suam,  faciatis 


272  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Francis  gives  evidently  here  a  permission  to  Brother  Leo 
of  the  same  sort  as  the  one  he  had  given  Caesarius.  The 
plural  number  employed  in  the  letter  (facialis)  might  indicate 
—  as  Sabatier  thinks  —  that  the  permission  was  not  only 
accorded  to  Leo  but  also  to  others  of  like  mind.  Strictly 
speaking,  Francis  could  not  do  this,  for  the  law-making  power 
was  no  longer  his,  or  not  his  alone.  And  it  appears  that  he 
was  not  always  clear  in  his  mind  about  this;  thus  Eccleston 
relates  that  Francis,  after  the  Rule  was  established,  sent  out 
an  order  in  virtue  of  which  the  Brethren,  when  they  ate  out- 
side of  the  convents,  should  not  take  more  than  three  mouth- 
fuls  so  as  not  to  irritate  lay  people  by  showing  too  great  an 
appetite.1  For  more  than  one  Brother  Francis  continued  to 
be  the  real  Head  of  the  Order,  and  directly  after  his  death 
the  contention,  that  lasted  for  centuries,  broke  out  between 
those  who  wished  in  accordance  with  the  permission  granted 
by  the  saint  to  follow  the  Rule  literally,2  and  those  who 
wished  to  accept  the  leniencies  granted  by  Rome. 

cum  benedictione  Domini  Dei  et  mea  obedjentia.  Et,  si  tibi  est  necessarium 
propter  animam  tuam  aut  aliam  consolationem  tuam,  et  vis,  Leo,  venire  ad 
me,  veni."     (" Analekten,"  pp.  68-69.) 

In  the  rendering,  two  sentences,  separated  in  the  text  but  belonging  in  con- 
nection to  each  other,  are  put  together.  —  The  letter  to  Leo  is  preserved  in 
the  original  and  is  to  be  found  since  1902  in  the  Dominican  convent  in  Spoleto. 
The  photograph  is  in  Falocci-Pulignani :  Tre  autograft  di  S.  Francesco,  S.  Maria 
degli  Angeli,  1895,  and  in  Misc.  Franc,  VI,  pp.  33-39. 

1  "Haec  fuit  autem  prima  constitutio,  quam  sanctus  Franciscus  fecit  post 
regulam  bullatam."     Anal.  Fr.,  I,  p.  227. 

2  Thus  Angelo  Clareno,  who  "exivit  extra  obedientiam  ordinis,  ut  regulam 
beati  Francisci  servaret"  (Bernardini  Aquilani  Chron.,  ed.  Lemmens,  Romae, 
1902,  p.  5). 


CHAPTER  II 
TEE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

FRANCIS  did  not  wish  to  preach  by  word  only,  but  by 
actions  above  all.     "  And  all  are  to  preach  by  their 
example,"  he  had  already  told  the  Brothers  in  his 
Rule,  and  was  the  first  to  follow  this  order.     He  was 
the   same   in   his   life    as   in   his    speech,   says  Thomas   of 
Celano.1 

The  last  years  of  his  life  in  Rieti  show  time  and  again  fresh 
proofs  of  this  species  of  honesty.  In  the  days  of  Advent  of 
1223  or  1224  he  was  once  spending  some  time  in  a  hermit  cave 
at  Poggio  Bustone.2  As  his  poor  digestion  did  not  permit 
him  to  eat  anything  that  was  prepared  with  oil,  he  had  to 
have  special  food  that  was  prepared  with  lard  (lardo) .  Fran- 
cis personally  accused  himself  of  this  infraction  of  the  rules  of 
Advent  when  he  preached  on  Christmas  Day  to  the  people. 
"You  are  come  hither,"  he  at  once  said,  "because  you  think 
that  I  am  so  pious  and  God-fearing.  Therefore  you  must 
know  that  I  in  this  fast  have  eaten  food  that  was  prepared 
with  lard." 

It  was  a  trait  of  the  same  kind  when  he,  in  the  winter  of 
1 220-1 22 1,  during  one  of  his  frequent  attacks  of  sickness, 
recuperated  by  eating  a  little  meat-soup  and  boiled  meat. 
He  had  hardly  recovered  when,  after  he  had  preached  in  the 
cathedral,  he  had  himself  dragged  half-naked  by  his  vicar, 
Peter  of  Cattani,  with  a  rope  around  his  neck,  down  through 
the  town  to  the  pillory  on  the  market-place.  Before  the 
thronging  populace  Francis  confessed  publicly  his  indulgence.3 

1  "  idem  lingua  et  vita."  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  93  (d'Al.).  Reg.  prima,  cap.  XVII: 
"Omnes  tamen  fratres  operibus  praedicent." 

2  10  miles  north  of  Rieti.     See  Jorgensen's  "Pilgrimsbog,"  cap.  XIII. 
8  Spec,  cc.  61-62.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  93-94  (d'Al.).     Bonav.,  VI,  2. 

19  273 


274  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

Another  time  he  was  induced  by  the  Brothers,  also  for  the 
sake  of  his  infirmity,  to  have  a  piece  of  skin  sewed  on  the 
inside  of  his  habit  to  warm  his  stomach.  "But  sew  also  a 
piece  on  the  outside,"  said  Francis,  "so  all  can  see  that  I  am 
wearing  furs!  " 

"I  do  not  want  to  be  different  in  secret,"  he  was  wont  to 
say,  "from  what  I  am  in  public!"  If  he  had  been  invited 
into  any  place  and  had  eaten  anything  special,  he  told  of  it 
immediately  to  the  Brothers  when  he  returned.  If,  as  he 
went  through  the  streets  of  Assisi,  he  gave  an  alms  and  felt 
a  certain  selfish  pleasure  at  having  done  something  good,  he 
confessed  it  at  once  to  the  Brother  who  accompanied  him.1 
In  the  image  which  he  drew  of  the  ideal  General  of  the  Order, 
he  accordingly  required  that  this  one  should  not  eat  good 
food  in  retirement,  but  must  always  let  the  Brothers  see  what 
came  to  his  table.2 

Above  all  was  he  devoted  to  poverty.  It  is  blessed  to  give 
alms,  he  declared,  but  it  is  blessed  also  to  receive  them.  Bread 
that  was  begged  was  "Angels'  bread."  The  Brother  who 
came  home  from  begging  should  therefore  come  with  song. 
Francis  had  constantly  in  his  mouth  the  Psalms  and  texts 
of  the  gospels  which  praise  poverty.  When  a  Brother  once 
in  a  hermitage  had  said  to  him,  "I  come  from  thy  cell," 
Francis  would  not  stay  in  it  any  longer.  A  house  of  hewed 
planks  was  too  much  for  him,  a  hut  of  cane  and  mud  was 
enough  for  him,  but  he  liked  best  to  live  in  caves  like  the  foxes 
of  the  gospel  (Matthew  viii.  20).  The  stone  house  the 
citizens  of  Assisi  had  built  down  by  Portiuncula  he  started  to 
tear  down,  and  had  already  got  a  part  of  the  roof  torn  off 
when  the  podesta  sent  down  a  protest  to  the  effect  that 
Francis  thus  was  destroying  the  property  of  the  community. 
To  provide  to-day  for  the  needs  of  to-morrow  was  something 
that  might  do  for  the  well-to-do;  therefore  he  commanded  the 
Brothers  not  to  put  green  vegetables  in  water  in  the  evening 
to  keep  for  the  next  day,  just  as  they  were  not  to  collect  more 
in  alms  than  they  could  eat  on  the  same  day.  To  make  his 
habit  really  poor  in  appearance  he  liked  to  have  common 

1  Spec.,  cc.  62-63.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  pp.  93-94  (d'Al.). 

2  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  p.  308,  L.  23-26  (d'Al.). 


THE     SPIRITUAL    LIFE  275 

rags  sewed  upon  it  here  and  there.  If  he  wanted  a  new 
one  he  would  wait  until  he  could  beg  one.1  The  Brother 
who  objected  to  going  after  alms  was  in  danger  of  being 
called  "  Brother  Drone,"  because  he  wanted  to  eat  the 
honey  in  the  combs,  but  did  not  want  to  fly  out  and 
gather  it.2 

With  all  this  striving  after  poverty,  Francis  could  never 
find  that  he  and  the  Brothers  were  poor  enough.  "We 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  ourselves,"  said  he  when  he  encoun- 
tered a  real  ragged  beggar;  "we  want  to  be  called  poor  and  to 
be  celebrated  all  over  the  world  for  our  poverty,  and  here  we 
see  one  who  is  much  poorer  than  we,  but  does  not  boast  of 
it!"  Such  a  beggar  was  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  Francis,  and  he 
would  not  allow  any  Brother  to  speak  ill  of  such  or  to  insult 
their  poverty.  Francis  the  voluntary  pauper  willingly  gave 
all  he  had  to  this  the  real  pauper  —  his  hood,  a  piece  of  his 
habit,  even  his  breeches.  "They  properly  belong  to  them," 
he  declared,  "and  I  would  have  to  look  upon  myself  as  a  thief 
if  I  kept  their  possessions  from  them ! "  "Let  us  give  back  to 
our  brother  Poor-man  what  we  have  borrowed  from  him" 
was  one  of  his  regular  expressions  on  such  an  occasion.  When 
anything  was  given  to  him,  he  always  held  himself  ready  to 
give  it  up  to  some  one  more  in  need  of  it.  The  Brothers  thus 
often  had  their  work  cut  out  for  them  in  keeping  the  clothes 
on  their  master's  back,  especially  because  he  would  not  wear 
new  clothes,  but  always  insisted  on  having  those  which  had 
already  been  worn.  Sometimes  one  Brother  would  give  half 
of  his  habit  to  Francis,  and  another  the  other  half.  Now  and 
then  the  Brothers  tried  to  get  back  his  clothes  from  those  to 
whom  he  had  given  them,  but  Francis  discovered  this  and 
thereupon  warned  the  beggar  possessing  them  not  to  give 
them  up  without  ample  return  in  the  shape  of  money.  At 
Celle  the  Brothers  had  to  buy  back  Francis'  hood  from  an 
old  woman.3 


1  Spec,  perf.,  cc.  5,  14,  16,  7,  8,  9,  19.     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  cc.  26,  27,  29,  39,  40 
(d'Al.).     Tractatus  de  miraculis,  V,  n.  35.     Bonav.,  Legenda  major,  VII,  2,  8. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  secunda,  II,  c.  45  (d'Al.). 

3  Spec,  perf.,  cc.  29-31,  33-35,  37.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cc.  51-55,  57,  148  (d'Al.). 
Bonav.,  VIII,  5. 


276  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

He  often  had  a  special  object  in  his  alms;  thus  when  he 
in  Colle  near  Perugia  met  a  man  he  had  formerly  known 
and  who  now  was  reduced  to  poverty.  In  their  conversation 
the  poor  man  complained  especially  at  having  been  unjustly 
treated  by  his  master,  towards  whom  he  accordingly  bore  a 
bitter  feeling.  "I  will  give  thee  willingly  my  hood,  if  thou 
wilt  forgive  thy  master  his  injustice,"  said  Francis.  And  the 
other's  heart  was  moved;  he  forgot  his  hatred  and  was  filled 
with  the  sweetness  of  God's  spirit.1 

In  Rieti  Francis  once  discovered  a  poor  woman  who,  like 
himself ,  had  poor  eyes;  he  helped  her,  not  only  with  clothes, 
but  also  with  a  dozen  loaves  of  bread.2  Another  poor  woman, 
who  had  two  sons  among  the  Brothers,  came  to  Portiuncula 
and  complained  of  her  need.  Francis  gave  her  the  New 
Testament  which  was  used  in  the  divine  service,  so  that  she 
could  sell  it.  "I  believe,"  said  he,  "that  the  Lord  will  be 
better  pleased  that  we  thus  help  our  mother  than  if  we  keep 
the  book  and  let  her  go  away  without  help."  By  the  title 
"our  mother"  he  designated  every  woman  who  had  given 
the  Order  a  son.3 

It  was  in  Portiuncula  that  the  altar  was  menaced  with  the 
loss  of  its  ornaments.  To  get  food  for  the  many  Brothers 
who  now  were  joining  the  Order,  Peter  of  Cattani  proposed 
that  the  novices  should  no  longer,  as  hitherto,  give  their  prop- 
erty to  the  poor,  but  that  a  part  should  be  made  over  to  the 
Order.  "By  no  means,"  answered  Francis;  "that  is  forbidden 
in  our  Rule!"  "What  shall  I  do  then?"  asked  the  uncertain 
vicar.  "Take  the  ornaments  of  the  altar  and  sell  them!  It 
is  better  to  have  a  bare  altar  and  keep  to  the  gospel  than  to 
have  an  ornamented  one  and  depart  therefrom!"4 

Thus  did  Francis  try  to  keep  his  path  clear  and  to  follow 
the  gospel  in  reality  and  not  only  in  appearance.  Nothing, 
therefore,  could  displease  him  more  than  when  he  thought 
the  Brothers  used  the  alms  laboriously  begged  in  the  name 


1  Spec,  c.  32.    Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  56  (d'AL).    Colle  is  a  little  village  on  the  road 
from  Assisi  to  Perugia  just  before  the  Ponte  S.  Giovanni  is  reached. 

2  Spec,  c.  33.     Cel.,  I,  c.  II,  69. 
» Spec,  c.  38.     Cel.,  II,  58. 

4  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  37  (d'Al.).     Bonav.,  VII,  4.     Regul.  secunda,  cap.  II. 


THE     SPIRITUAL    LIFE  277 

of  God  in  a  way  unbecoming  to  poor  people.  The  celebrated 
Bishop  Ketteler  of  Mayence  once  caught  a  family  by  sur- 
prise who  used  to  receive  much  assistance  from  him,  and  who 
were  eating  roast  goose  and  red  wine.  All  the  Bishop  said 
was  that  he  was  glad  to  see  that  his  gifts  had  given  them 
a  pleasant  evening;  Francis  on  such  occasions  was  much 
severer. 

It  happened  that  on  another  Easter  Day,  in  the  convent 
at  Greccio,  the  Brothers,  in  honor  of  the  feast-day  and  of 
one  of  the  ministers  who  had  come  as  a  guest,  had  covered 
the  table  with  a  cloth  and  had  set  out  glasses  instead  of  the 
tin  cups.  A  little  before  midday  Francis  came  along  and 
saw  the  whole  preparation;  he  quietly  crept  out,  put  on  an 
old  hat  which  a  beggar  had  left  after  him,  and  with  staff  in 
hand  knocked  at  the  door  just  as  the  Brothers  were  taking 
their  seats.  His  appealing  voice  was  heard  at  the  door: 
Per  Vamor  di  messer  dotnenedio,  faciate  elimosina  a  quisto 
povero  ed  infirmo  peregrino  !  "For  the  love  of  God,  give  alms 
to  this  poor  and  infirm  pilgrim!  " 

On  the  Brothers'  friendly  invitation  Francis  entered.  He 
sat  down  on  the  floor  by  the  fireplace,  had  a  dish  of  soup 
brought  to  him  and  a  piece  of  bread,  and  began  to  eat. 
None  of  the  Brothers  said  anything,  and  none  could  get 
down  a  mouthful  —  it  was  hard  enough,  to  sit  there  with 
that  finely  spread  table  while  Francis,  like  a  male  Cinderella, 
with  his  dish  on  his  lap,  crouched  down  in  the  corner.  Soon 
Francis  laid  down  his  spoon  and  said  to  himself:  "Now  I 
am  sitting  as  a  Friar  Minor  ought  to  sit!  But  when  I  came 
in  here  and  saw  the  fine  spread  upon  the  table,  I  did  not 
think  I  was  with  poor  members  of  the  Order  that  had  to 
go  every  day  and  beg  their  bread  from  door  to  door!"  The 
Brothers  could  stand  it  now  no  Jonger;  some  of  them  began 
to  weep,  others  rose  and  went  to  Francis  as  he  sat  there.1 

On  another  occasion  there  was  a  similar  scene.  It  was 
Christmas  time;  Francis  sat  at  the  table  with  his  Brothers. 
One  of  them  spoke  of  how  poor  the  Child  Jesus  had  been,  and 
of  how  sad  it  must  have  been  for  Mary  to  have  her  child  put 
in  the  stable,  without  a  bed  except  the  manger,  with  only  hay 

1  Spec,  perf.,  c.  20.    Compare  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  31  (d'Al.)  and  Bonav.,  VII,  g. 


278  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

and  straw  for  pillow  and  mattress,  with  no  warmth  in  the 
cold  winter  night  other  than  the  breathing  of  ox  and  ass  upon 
the  tender  child.  Francis  sat  in  silence  and  listened  until  he 
suddenly  burst  out  into  lamentation,  took  his  bread  and  sat 
down  upon  the  cold  floor  of  earth  so  as  to  eat  there,  where  it 
was  no  better  than  it  had  been  with  Jesus  and  Mary.1 

So  unaccustomed  did  Francis  become  to  any  kind  of  com- 
fort that  at  last  he  felt  it  an  annoyance  rather  than  a  satis- 
faction. Thus  the  Brothers  in  Greccio,  after  he  had  been 
burnt  with  a  hot  iron  on  the  temples  as  a  treatment  for  his 
eye  sickness,  induced  him  to  use  a  pillow  to  rest  his  head 
on  at  night.  The  morning  after  Francis  appeared  and  said: 
" Brothers,  I  have  not  been  able  to  sleep  for  your  pillow! 
Everything  swam  around  me,  and  the  legs  tremble  under  me 
—  I  believe  there  is  a  devil  in  the  pillow!"  He  then  ordered 
a  Brother  to  take  the  pillow  outside  and  throw  it  carefully 
behind  him  without  looking  after  it.2 

This  was  not  the  first  time  Francis  believed  himself  to  be 
attacked  by  the  powers  of  darkness.  Of  an  evening,  when  he 
lingered  in  lonesome  prayer  in  an  empty  church  or  in  a  cave, 
it  would  often  seem  to  him  as  if  some  one  was  behind  him,  as 
if  hurried,  soft  steps  were  stealing  and  moving  around  him, 
as  if  a  horrid  head  looked  over  his  shoulder  and  wanted  to 
read  with  him  out  of  his  prayer  book.3  Then  he  would  hear 
voices  in  the  storms  whistling  through  the  mountain  forests, 
the  demons  would  laugh  at  him,  while  the  owl  screeched  out- 
side his  cell;  but  worst  of  all  was  the  almost  inaudible  whisper- 
ing which,  in  the  deathlike  stillness  of  the  hours  of  the  night, 
would  sound  in  Francis'  ears,  as  if  whispered  by  hateful  and 
spiteful  lips,  "It  is  all  in  vain,  Francis!  Thou  canst  implore 
and  pray  all  thou  wishes t  —  yet  dost  thou  belong  to  me!" 
Then  would  Francis  fight  for  his  eternal  life,  and  the  Brothers 
who  came  in  the  morning  to  look  after  him  found  him  pale 
and  exhausted,  wearied  by  the  fight  with  the  devouring  powers 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  151  (d'Al.). 

2  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  98.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  34  (d'Al.). 

3  "In  sero,  cum  dicebam  completorium,  sensi  diabolum  venire  ad  cellam 
(Spec,ed.  Sab.,  p.  193).  Spec,  egg.  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  81  (d'Al.).  Spec,  cc.  59-60. 
Bonav.,  X,  3. 


THE     SPIRITUAL     LIFE  279 

of  darkness.  "I  feel  I  am  the  greatest  sinner  that  ever  has 
existed,"  he  once  said,  after  such  a  night,  to  Brother  Pacificus. 
But  the  King  of  Verse  (Pacificus)  also  saw  in  a  dream  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  opened  and  the  throne,  whence  Lucifer 
had  been  cast  down,  standing  ready  for  Francis  on  account 
of  his  deep  humility.1 

1  Spec,  ed.  Sab.,  p.  no.     Bonav.,  VI,  6. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE    TRUE    DISCIPLE 

FRANCIS,  with  all  these  experiences  in  the  spiritual  life, 
was  a  good  teacher  and  guide  for  his  disciples.  He 
taught  them  not  to  fear  temptations.  "No  one," 
said  he,  "  ought  to  consider  himself  a  true  servant  of 
God  who  is  not  tried  by  many  temptations  and  trials.  Temp- 
tations overcome  are  a  sort  of  betrothal  ring  God  gives  the 
soul."  On  other  occasions  he  turned  back  to  his  favorite 
conception  of  the  demons  as  God's  guastaldi  (note  6,  p.  259). 
" Brother  Bernard  of  Quintavalle,"  he  declared,  "is  visited  by 
the  most  deceitful  spirits  of  hell,  who  are  trying  to  get  him  to 
fall  like  a  star  from  heaven.  Now  he  is  oppressed  and  bowed 
down  under  their  attack,  but  when  death  draws  near  the  storm 
will  cease  and  there  will  be  a  great  peace."  And  so  it  hap- 
pened. In  the  last  days  of  his  life  Brother  Bernard's  soul 
was  quite  separated  from  earthly  things,  and  he  "snatched 
his  food  in  the  air  like  swallows,"  said  Brother  Giles.  "And 
twenty  or  thirty  days  at  a  time  he  wandered  by  himself  on 
the  highest  mountain  tops  and  contemplated  the  things  that 
are  above."  But  in  his  dying  hour  he  said  to  the  assembled 
Brothers,  "Not  for  one  thousand  worlds  as  beautiful  as  this 
would  I  have  served  any  other  master  than  my  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  beaming  with  very  great  gladness  he  went  into 
the  eternal  fatherland  of  all  the  saints.1 

Another  of  the  early  disciples,  Brother  Rufino,  was  attacked 
by  great  temptations.  It  was  with  him  as  with  the  master  — 
"the  old  enemy  whispered  to  his  heart  that  he  was  not  of  the 
number  of  those  who  are  destined  to  eternal  life,  and  that  all 
he  did  was  therefore  in  vain. "     Yes,  it  even  seemed  to  him 

iCel.,  V.  sec,  II,  19  and  83  (d'Al.).     Fiorelti,  capp.  6  and  28. 
280 


THE     TRUE     DISCIPLE  281 

that  the  Saviour  appeared  to  him  and  said:  "O  Brother 
Runno,  why  trouble  Me  with  prayer  and  penance,  since  thou 
art  not  destined  to  eternal  life?  And  believe  thou  Me,  for  I 
well  know  whom  I  have  chosen  and  predestined!  And  this 
so-called  Francis,  son  of  Peter  Bernardone,  is  also  among  the 
condemned,  and  all  who  follow  him  will  suffer  for  ever  in  hell. 
Therefore  seek  no  advice  from  him  any  more,  and  listen  to  him 
in  nothing!"  Then  was  Brother  Runno  all  dark  of  soul,  and 
he  lost  all  faith  in  and  love  for  his  hitherto  trusted  master, 
and  sat  dark  and  alone  in  his  cell  and  would  pray  no  longer 
nor  go  to  the  Brothers'  divine  service.  What  good  was  it  all 
—  he  looked  for  nothing  else  than  the  everlasting  fire  and  the 
devil  and  his  angels! 

It  was  in  vain  that  Brother  Masseo,  at  Francis'  behest,  took 
the  message  to  Runno  to  come.  The  unhappy  man's  answer 
sounded  angry  and  short:  "What  have  I  to  do  with  Brother 
Francis?"  Then  Francis  went  personally  to  get  Brother 
Runno  out  of  his  dark  cloud.  "And  already  at  a  distance 
Francis  began  to  cry  out,  '0  Brother  Runno,  thou  miserable 
man,  whom  hast  thou  believed?'  And  he  showed  to  him 
clearly  that  it  was  the  devil  and  not  Christ  who  had  shown 
himself  to  him.  But  if  the  devil  should  again  say  to  thee, 
'Thou  art  lost ! '  then  answer  him  quietly,  'Open  thy  mouth  and 
I  will  blow  into  it ! '  And  it  will  be  a  sign  that  it  is  the  devil 
that  when  thou  hast  answered  thus,  he  will  fly  away  at  once. 
And  thou  canst  know  by  this  that  it  has  been  the  devil, 
because  he  has  hardened  thy  heart  against  all  good,  which  is 
precisely  his  doing,  whilst  Christ  the  Blessed  One  never  hardens 
a  living  man's  heart,  but  makes  it  tender,  as  he  says  by  the 
mouth  of  the  prophet :  '  I  will  take  thy  heart  of  stone  from  thee 
and  give  thee  a  living  heart  instead!'" 

Then  Brother  Runno  saw  how  he  had  been  deceived,  and 
the  heart  softened  in  his  breast,  and  he  began  to  weep  bitterly 
and  cast  himself  down  before  Francis  and  once  more  gave 
himself  into  his  master's  care.  Weeping  but  happy,  strength- 
ened and  comforted,  he  arose,  and  when  the  devil  again 
showed  himself  to  him  in  the  likeness  of  Christ,  he  answered 
him  courageously,  as  Francis  had  taught  him.  "Then  the 
devil  was  so  furious,  that  he  at  once  went  away  with  so  great 


282  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

a  blast  and  movement  of  the  stones  on  Monte  Subasio  (for 
this  happened  up  in  Carceri)  that  they  flew  a  long  ways,  as 
one  can  see  to-day.  And  while  they  were  rolling  down  the 
ravines,  they  struck  sparks,  and  Francis  and  the  Brothers 
came  out  in  alarm  to  see  what  was  going  on.  But  Christ 
blessed  Brother  Rufino  and  restored  to  him  such  a  spiritual 
joy  and  sweetness  and  exaltation  of  soul  that  day  after  day 
he  was  out  of  himself  and  entranced  in  God.  And  from  that 
same  hour  he  was  so  fixed  in  grace  and  so  sure  of  his  everlast- 
ing salvation  that  he  became  another  man,  and  if  he  could 
have  obtained  permission  for  it,  he  would  have  given  himself 
up  to  prayer  and  meditation  on  the  things  which  are  above. 
Wherefore  Francis  used  to  say  that  Brother  Rufino  was  sanc- 
tified by  Christ  during  his  actual  life,  and  that,  if  only  he  him- 
self would  not  hear  it,  he,  Francis,  would  not  hesitate  to  call 
him  St.  Rufino,  although  he  was  yet  living  on  the  earth."1 

In  this  environment  of  his  faithful  Brothers,  living  and  con- 
versing with  them  constantly,  Francis  forgot  in  the  world- 
remote  peace  of  Rieti  all  that  was  upon  the  other  side  of  the 
mountains  —  the  Brothers  in  Bologna,  the  Brothers  in  Paris, 
the  Brothers  at  the  Curia  and  the  Brothers  at  the  University, 
the  Brothers  who  were  in  all  other  places  than  just  where 
Francis  wanted  them  to  be,  and  did  all  things  differently  than 
Francis  wanted  them  to.  As  a  counterpoise  to  it  all  Francis 
issued  a  letter  On  the  Ideal  Friar  Minor,  a  letter  which  was 
not  carved  out  of  the  air,  but  in  which  he  employs  traits  of 
character  of  all  his  most  faithful  disciples.  "The  perfect 
Friar  Minor,"  said  Francis,  "must  be  as  true  to  poverty  as 
Bernard  of  Quintavalle,  simple  and  pure  as  Leo,  chaste  as 
Angelo,  intelligent  and  eloquent  by  nature  as  Masseo;  he 
must  have  a  mind  fixed  on  high,  like  Giles;  his  prayer  must 
be  like  that  of  Rufino,  who  always  prays,  and  whether  he 
wakes  or  sleeps,  his  mind  is  with  God;  he  must  be  patient  as 
Brother  Juniper,  strong  in  soul  and  body  as  John  de  Laudi- 

1  Fior.,  c.  29.  Adas,  cc.  31  and  35.  Anal.  Franc,  III,  pp.  48-52.  The  word 
Francis  taught  Rufino  to  say  to  the  devil  is  worse  than  what  is  given  above 
(Apri  la  bocca  metteti  caco  =  "Aperi  os  tuum  et  faciam  intus  faeces").  Com- 
pare a  tale  of  how  Francis  cured  a  Brother  of  conscientious  scruples,  in  Celano's 
Vita  secunda,  II,  c.  87  (d'Alencon).     Compare  II,  c.  6. 


THE     TRUE     DISCIPLE  283 

bus,  loving  as  Roger  of  Todi,  and  like  Brother  Lucidus  he 
must  not  settle  in  any  place,  for  when  Brother  Lucidus  had 
been  more  than  a  month  in  one  place,  and  found  that  he 
was  beginning  to  like  it,  then  he  would  at  once  leave  it,  saying, 
'Our  home  is  in  heaven.'  "  1 

Francis  rejoiced  in  being  able  also  to  count  in  this  flock  of 
the  most  faithful  others  than  those  who  were  nearest  to  him. 
Thus  he  once  heard  with  great  joy  a  priest  returning  from  Spain 
speak  of  the  Spanish  Franciscans.  "Thy  Brothers,"  said  the 
traveller,  "live  there  in  a  little  hermitage  and  have  so  arranged 
things  that  one  half  of  them  spend  the  week  taking  care  of  the 
house,  while  the  other  half  give  their  time  to  prayer.  The 
next  week  the  two  divisions  change  about.  It  so  happened 
one  day  that  the  dinner  bell  rang,  and  that  one  of  the  Brothers 
did  not  come.  As  this  was  a  day  on  which  the  food  was 
unusually  good,  the  others  went  in  search  of  him.  They  found 
him  prostrate,  with  face  against  the  ground,  with  arms  extended 
like  a  cross,  apparently  lifeless,  completely  carried  away  in 
an  ecstasy.  The  Brothers  went  silently  away,  and  after  some 
time  the  favored  one  came  in.  But  as  if  nothing  unusual 
had  happened  to  him,  he  knelt  down  humbly  and  begged 
forgiveness  because  he  came  too  late!" 

Such  an  occurrence  was  exactly  in  harmony  with  Francis' 
wishes.  "I  thank  thee,  O  Lord,"  he  cried  out,  "because  thou 
hast  given  me  such  Brothers!"  And  as  he  turned  towards 
the  quarter  of  the  heavens  where  Spain  lay,  he  blessed  with 
a  great  sign  of  the  Cross  his  faithful  and  distant  Brothers.2 

Such  a  pair  of  true  Franciscans  were  also  those  two  Brothers 
who  had  gone  to  the  pains  of  traversing  the  long  road  to  the 
other  side  of  Greccio  to  see  Francis.  Now  it  had  become  so, 
in  the  last  years  of  Francis'  life,  that  when  he  had  withdrawn 
from  the  other  Brothers  to  pray  in  solitude,  no  one  dared  to 
approach  him  and  disturb  him,  and  the  Brothers  took  care  of 
any  business  that  might  present  itself.3  When  the  two  pil- 
grims came,  Francis  had  just  gone,  and  it  was  uncertain  when 

1  Spec.  Per/.,  c.  85. 

2  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  135  (d'Al.). 

3  Cel,  V.  pr.,  c.  VI.  Actus,  IX,  28-31.  Verba  Jr.  Conradi,  I,  11  (in  Opuscules 
de  critique,  I,  p.  373). 


284  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

he  would  come  back.  The  strangers,  who  had  no  time  to 
stay,  were  much  cast  down  by  this  and  said  to  each  other: 
"This  is  on  account  of  our  sins!  We  are  not  worthy  to  be 
blessed  by  our  father  Francis!"  As  they  were  so  unhappy 
over  the  affair,  the  other  Brothers  accompanied  them  on  the 
road  down  from  the  convent,  comforting  them  as  well  as  they 
could.  Suddenly  a  cry  from  above  was  heard  —  the  road 
went  zigzag  down  from  the  lofty  caves  where  the  Brothers 
lived,  and  as  they  turned  around  they  saw  Francis  standing 
up  in  the  entrance  of  his  cell.1  The  two  strange  Brothers 
fell  upon  their  knees,  and  with  faces  turned  to  the  master 
received  the  blessings  he  gave  them,  with  a  large,  slow  sign  of 
the  Cross.2 

In  the  various  descriptions  of  his  life  are  still  preserved 
many  a  trait  of  Francis'  fine  feelings  and  tenderness  for  the 
Brothers  and  of  his  deep  knowledge  of  the  soul.  He  under- 
stood others  so  well  because  he  understood  himself,  and  the 
Brothers  often  felt  that  he  was  reading  their  hearts.  This 
was  the  case  with  one  of  his  countrymen,  Brother  Leonard 
from  Assisi.  Weary  of  long  walking,  Francis  had  complied 
with  the  advice  of  a  sympathizer  and  had  mounted  an  ass 
and  ridden  a  part  of  the  way.  Brother  Leonard  walked  by 
his  side  and  presumably  was  also  tired;  in  any  event  he 
thought  to  himself,  "Why  should  Peter  Bernardone's  son 
ride,  whilst  I,  who  am  of  much  better  ancestry,  have  to  walk?" 
How  surprised  he  was  when  Francis  stopped  his  steed,  dis- 
mounted, and  said  as  he  did  so,  "It  is  not  becoming,  Brother, 
that  thou,  who  art  of  much  better  family  than  I,  should  walk, 
while  I  ride!"  Red  in  the  face,  Leonard  resisted  his  unchari- 
table thoughts  and  helped  Francis  to  mount  again.3 

Against  such  and  all  other  trials  and  temptations  Francis 
over  and  over  again  advised  his  Brothers  to  use  three  remedies 
—  the  first  was  prayer,  the  second  was  obedience,  such  that 

1  He  lived  "in  cella  ultima  post  cellam  majorem,"  says  Spec.  per},  (cap.  98). 

2  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  16  (d'AL). 

3  Cel.,  V.,  sec.,  II,  c.  5.  Compare  same,  cap.  2  (Francis  sees  through  a  Brother 
who  under  guise  of  holiness,  to  preserve  complete  silence,  will  not  even  write), 
and  Actus,  cap.  11  (Francis  reads  in  Masseo's  heart  that  he  is  angry  that  they 
left  Siena  without  paying  the  Bishop  a  farewell  visit).  Compare  Bonav., 
Legenda  major,  XI,  8,  10,  13. 


THE     TRUE    DISCIPLE  285 

one  willingly  did  another's  will,  the  third  was  the  evangelical 
joy  in  the  Lord,  which  drives  away  all  evil  and  dark  thoughts. 
In  these  three  precepts  Francis  set  the  best  example  to  his 
Brothers.  Ever  since  he  resigned  the  leadership  of  the  Order 
he  always  had  a  Brother  with  him,  whom  he  obeyed  as 
his  guardian.  It  mattered  nothing  to  Francis  who  it  was; 
he  was  as  willing  to  obey  the  youngest  novice  in  the  Order  as 
Brother  Bernard  or  Brother  Peter  of  Cattani.  He  was  always 
pleased  with  his  surroundings,  and  if  anyone  happened  to  do 
anything  displeasing  to  him  at  any  time,  he  would  go  apart 
and  pray,  until  the  natural  irritation  over  the  incident  had 
subsided,  and  never  spoke  of  it  to  anyone.  "Teach  us  to 
be  perfectly  obedient!"  the  Brothers  asked  him  once.  Then 
Francis  answered:  "Take  a  corpse  and  bring  it  where  thou 
wilt!  It  makes  no  resistance,  does  not  change  its  attitude, 
does  not  wish  to  move.  If  thou  placest  it  on  a  throne,  it 
looks  down  and  not  up;  if  thou  dressest  it  in  purple,  it  appears 
only  paler  than  before.  It  is  so  with  the  really  obedient;  he 
never  asks  whither  he  is  sent,  he  never  is  concerned  as  to 
how  he  came  here,  does  not  seek  to  be  taken  away.  If  he 
acquires  honors,  they  only  increase  his  humility,  and  the  more 
he  is  praised,  the  more  unworthy  does  he  consider  himself."  l 
Francis  wished  to  be  like  a  corpse,  subject,  without  resistance, 
to  all,  and  his  true  Brother  should  follow  him  in  this  as  in  all 
other  things.  Per  lo  merito  delta  santa  ubbedienza,  "by  the 
merit  of  holy  obedience,"  Francis  once  made  Brother  Bernard 
stamp  upon  his  mouth  in  punishment  for  some  evil  thoughts 
he  had  nourished  about  him.2 

In  one  utterance  of  Francis  this  conception  of  his  of  obedi- 
ence attains  an  almost  Buddhistic  character.  "Holy  obedi- 
ence," it  says,  "annihilates  all  will  of  the  body  and  flesh  and 
causes  a  body  to  be  dead  to  itself  and  ready  to  obey  the  soul 
and  to  obey  its  neighbor,  and  makes  a  man  subject  to  all  men 
here  in  the  world,  and  not  only  to  all  men,  but  also  to  all  tame 
and  wild  beasts,  so  that  they  can  do  with  him  what  they  will, 
as  power  for  this  is  given  them  by  the  Lord.,,z    This  undeniably 

1  Spec,  cc.  46-48.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cc.  111-112  (d'Al.). 

2  Fioretti,  cap.  3. 

3Opuscula,  p.  21.     Bohmer,  "  Analekten,"  p.  65. 


286  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

reminds  us  of  Sakyamuni's  disciples,  who  let  themselves  be 
torn  to  pieces  by  tigers  rather  than  resist  the  evil.  And  that 
this  was  not  a  momentary  idea  of  Francis  which  found  expres- 
sion in  these  words  is  seen  in  the  tales  of  how  he  did  not  want 
to  put  out  the  fire  that  was  burning  his  clothes,  and  of  how 
he  upbraided  himself  for  having  taken  a  skin  away  from 
" Brother  Fire"  which  it  wished  to  "eat!"1 

The  first  great  means  of  bringing  about  peace  for  Francis 
was  obedience,  taken  as  the  complete  abandonment  of  all 
personal  will,  the  perfect  subjection  to  every  command  and 
every  power.  "If  anyone  strikes  thee  on  one  cheek,  then 
offer  him  the  other,  and  if  anyone  takes  thy  cloak  from  thee, 
then  do  not  keep  thy  habit  from  him.  .  .  .  And  if  anyone 
takes  thy  property  from  thee,  ask  it  not  again  from  him.  .  .  . 
Therefore  if  anyone  comes  to  me  and  does  not  hate  his  own 
body,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple.  For  he  who  will  save  his 
life  shall  lose  it,  but  he  who  loses  his  life  for  my  sake,  he 
shall  save  it."  2 

The  other  means  of  obtaining  peace  was  prayer,  constant 
and  persevering  prayer,  prayers  "without  intermission." 
Francis  himself,  as  Thomas  of  Celano  says,  was  not  one  who 
now  and  then  prayed,  but  "his  whole  being  was  changed  to 
prayer"  (non  tarn  orans  quam  oratio  f actus) .  It  was  as  if  there 
was  only  a  thin  wall  between  him  and  eternity  and  he  often, 
as  it  were,  heard  the  sound  of  the  eternal  song  of  praise  on  the 
other  side  of  the  wall.  In  such  moments  he  suddenly  became 
silent,  broke  off  the  conversation,  if  he  was  with  the  Brothers, 
and  covered  his  face  with  his  hood  or  at  the  least  with  his 
hands.  The  disciples  then  would  hear  him  sigh  deeply  and 
murmur  something  or  other,  they  would  see  him  also  nod  his 
head,  as  if  he  answered  some  one,  and  they  would  steal  away. 
They  knew  that  the  master  did  not  want  to  be  noticed  when 
he  prayed;  it  is  told  that  the  Bishop  of  Assisi  once  lost  his 
voice  as  punishment  for  surprising  Francis  at  his  prayers. 
Francis  tried  to  conceal  his  piety  as  much  as  possible,  got  up 
in  the  morning  as  quietly  as  possible  before  the  others,  so  as  to 
escape  remark,  and  went  out  in  the  woods  to  be  free  from  dis- 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  cap.  116-117. 

2  Luke  vi.  29-30;  xiv.  26;  ix.  24. 


THE     TRUE     DISCIPLE  287 

turbance.  Sometimes  one  of  the  Brothers  stole  out  after  him, 
and  the  curious  one  would  sometimes  see  a  great  light,  and 
in  this  light  Christ,  Mary  and  many  angels  would  show  them- 
selves and  would  talk  with  Brother  Francis.  When  he  at  last 
came  back  from  his  prayers,  there  was  never  anything  to 
notice  about  him,  and  he  also  used  to  say  to  his  disciples: 
"When  God's  servant  receives  comfort  from  God  in  prayer, 
he  should,  before  he  ends  his  praying,  lift  up  his  eyes 
to  heaven  and  with  folded  hands  say  to  God,  'Lord,  thou 
hast  sent  thy  comfort  and  sweetness  from  heaven  to  me  an 
unworthy  sinner;  I  give  them  back  to  thee  again,  that  Thou 
mayest  keep  them  for  me ! '  And  when  he  then  returns  to  the 
Brothers,  he  must  show  himself  the  same  poor  sinner  he  is 
wont  to  be!"1 

Besides  prayers  in  solitude  Francis  also  used  zealously 
prayers  in  common  with  others.  In  the  Fioretti  we  see  him 
praying  together  with  Brother  Leo.  In  his  letter  to  the 
Brothers  assembled  at  the  Pentecost  Chapter  he  gives  them 
rules  for  saying  the  prayers  in  their  Breviaries.2  In  spite  of 
his  physical  weakness  he  never  was  willing  to  lean  against  a 
wall  or  partition  when  he  chanted  the  Psalms  in  company 
with  the  others.  If  he  was  travelling  and  it  was  time  to  pray, 
he  stopped  the  requisite  time;  if  on  horseback,  he  dismounted. 
When,  in  December,  1223,  he  was  on  the  journey  home  from 
Rome,  he  stood  thus  in  a  pouring  rain  and  let  himself  get  wet 
through,  as  he  prayed  from  his  Breviary  to  the  end  of  the 
prescribed  portion.  "Does  not  the  soul  need  a  quiet  time  for 
eating  as  well  as  the  body?"  he  asked  his  companion,  who 
remonstrated  with  him.3  Once  he  had  carved  a  little  cup  in 
his  leisure  moments,  and  when  it  was  just  finished  it  was  time 
for  saying  the  Tierce  (the  fourth  of  the  canonical  times  of  the 
day;  it  is  said  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning).  During  the 
prayer  his  eyes  wandered  contentedly  to  the  completed  work; 
yes,  so  taken  up  with  it  was  he  that  he  hardly  paid  any 
attention  to  the  Psalms  he  was  saying.  Suddenly  he 
realized  his  distraction,  and  in  his  zeal  he  seized  the  beaker 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  61,  cc.  65-66  (d'AL).     Fior.,  c.  17.     Actus,  c.  IX,  32-51. 

2Opusc,  p.  106.     "Analekten,"  p.  61. 

3  Cel.,  V.  sec.,  II,  62  (d'AL).    Spec.,  c.  94. 


288  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

that  had  taken  his  thoughts  from  God  and  threw  it  into  the 
fire.1 

Prayer  was  thus  something  which  he  took  seriously.  Chris- 
tians are  often  profuse  in  promises  to  pray  for  each  other  — 
promises  which  are  seldom  kept.  Francis  was  not  like  this. 
The  abbot  of  the  convent  of  St.  Justin  in  Perugia  had  once 
recommended  himself  to  Francis  to  be  remembered  in  his 
prayers,  when  taking  leave  of  him.  Francis  regarded  this  as 
more  than  a  phrase;  he  had  gone  only  a  few  steps  when  he 
said  to  his  companion,  "Let  us  pray  for  the  abbot,  as  we 
promised  him."2 

Above  all,  Francis  loved  to  hear  mass  every  day.  When  he 
was  stopping  in  a  town,  this  was  easy  to  do;  out  in  the  hermit- 
age it  was  otherwise.  It  is  a  long  road  from  Carceri  down 
to  Assisi  or  from  Celle  in  to  Cortona.  For  Francis  it  was 
certainly  the  best  Christmas  present  he  ever  received  when 
Honorius  III,  in  December,  1224,  permitted  the  Friars  Minor 
to  have  their  mass  read  out  in  their  hermitage  at  an  altar  they 
could  transport  from  place  to  place  with  them.3  After  this 
Francis  had  Brother  Leo  or  Brother  Benedict  of  Prato,  who 
were  both  priests,  say  mass  for  him.  When  neither  of  these 
was  there,  he  would  have  at  least  the  gospel  of  the  day  read 
aloud;  this  one  of  the  Brothers  was  glad  to  do  just  before 
midday.4 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  63  (d'Al.).     Bonav.,  X,  6. 

2  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  67  (d'Al.):  "Mos  enim  iste  semper  [ei]  fuit,  ut  orationem 
postulatus  non  post  tergum  projiceret,  sed  cito  hujusmodi  promissum  impleret." 
Bonav.,  X,  5. 

3  Such  a  portable  altar  consists  of  the  altar-stone  only,  that  can  be  placed  on 
a  suitable  support,  where  it  is  to  be  used.  Honorius  Ill's  permission  was  given 
December  3,  1224  (Sbar.,  I,  p.  20.     Potth.,  I,  nr.  7325). 

4  Spec  perf.  (ed.  Sab.),  p.  175,  concerning  Benedict  of  Prato.  Compare  in 
note  2,  same  page,  the  quotation  from  Brother  Leo's  words  written  in  the  Brevi- 
ary which  had  belonged  to  Francis  and  which  is  still  preserved  in  the  church 
of  Santa  Chiara  in  Assisi: 

"Beatus  Franciscus  acquisivit  hoc  breviarium  sociis  suis  fratri  Angelo  et 
fratri  Leoni  eoque  tempore  sanitatis  suae  voluit  dicere  semper  omcium  sicut  in 
regula  continetur,  et  tempore  infirmitatis  suae  quum  non  poterat  dicere  volebat 
audire  et  hoc  continuavit  dum  vixit.  Fecit  etiam  scribi  hoc  evangelistare  ut 
eo  die  quo  non  posset  audire  missam  occasione  infirmitatis  vel  alio  aliquo  mani- 
festo impedimento  faciebat  sibi  legi  evangelium  quod  eo  die  dicebatur  in  ecclesia, 
in  missa,  et  hoc  continuavit  usque  ad  obitum  suum.  Dicebat  enim:  'Quum 
non  audio  missam,  adoro  corpus  Christi  oculis  mentis  in  oratione  quemadmo- 


THE     TRUE     DISCIPLE  289 

The  third  means  for  obtaining  peace,  which  Francis  pointed 
out  to  his  disciples,  was  constant  cheerfulness. 

"Let  those  who  belong  to  the  devil  hang  their  heads  —  we 
ought  to  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  the  Lord,"  said  he.  Melan- 
choly was  "the  sin  of  Babylon,"  because  it  led  back  to  the 
abandoned  Babylon  of  the  world.  "When  the  soul  is  troubled, 
lonely  and  darkened,  then  it  turns  easily  to  the  outer  com- 
fort and  to  the  empty  enjoyments  of  the  world."  Therefore 
Francis  repeated  over  and  over  again  the  words  of  the 
Apostle:  "Rejoice  always!"  He  never  wanted  to  see  dark 
faces  or  sour  visages  —  his  Brothers  should  not  be  mournful 
hypocrites,  but  glad  children  of  light.  To  those  who  asked 
how  this  was  possible,  he  answered,  "Spiritual  joy  arises 
from  purity  of  the  heart  and  perseverance  in  prayer!"  Only 
sin  and  torpidity  are  able  to  extinguish  or  darken  the  light 
in  the  heart.  "When  the  soul  is  cold,"  said  Francis,  "and 
gradually  becomes  untrue  to  grace,  then  it  must  be  flesh 
and  blood  that  are  seeking  their  own!  " 1 

To  keep  free  not  only  from  every  sin  but  from  every 
blemish,  from  every  trespass  though  ever  so  little,  these  were 
the  conditions  for  living  in  the  divine  joy.  The  least  grain 
of  dust  in  the  eye  is  enough  to  stop  one  from  seeing  the  light. 
Francis  taught  his  disciples  to  be  on  their  guard  against  such 
grains  of  dust,  and  he  especially  warned  them  against  confi- 
dential intercourse  with  women.  When  talking  with  persons 
of  the  opposite  sex,  he  liked  to  look  down  on  the  earth  or  up 
into  the  sky,  and  when  the  conversation  was  too  prolonged, 
he  broke  it  off  abruptly.  At  Bevagna  he  and  a  Brother  were 
once  entertained  by  a  pair  of  pious  women,  a  mother  and  her 
daughter,  and  Francis  in  recompense  had  spoken  some  edify- 
ing words  to  them.     "Why  dost  thou  not  look  at  the  pious 

dum  adoro  quum  video  illud  in  missa.'  Audito  vel  lecto  evangelio,  beatus 
Franciscus  ex  maxima  reverentia  Domini  osculabatur  semper  evangelium." 
Compare  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  117:  "volebat  (Franciscus)  semper  audire  evange- 
lium quod  in  missa  legebatur  ilia  die  priusquam  comederet,  quando  non  posset 
audire  missam." 

St.  Clara  owned  a  Breviary  written  by  Leo,  which  is  still  preserved  in 
S.  Damiano.  See  Aug.  Cholat:  Le  Breviaire  de  Ste.  Claire  {Opusc.  de  critique,  II, 
pp.  31-96,  Paris,  1904). 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cc.  39,  88,  91  (d'AL).    Spec,  cc.  95-96. 
20 


29O  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

young  girl  who  hangs  upon  every  word  from  thy  lips?"  the 
Brother  asked  Francis,  as  they  left  the  place.  "Why  should 
one  not  be  afraid  to  look  upon  the  bride  of  Christ?"  answered 
Francis.  Every  pious  woman  in  Francis'  eyes  was  the  be- 
trothed of  Christ,  to  whom  he  as  the  poor  servant  of  Christ 
did  not  dare  to  lift  his  eyes.1 

In  recompense  for  this  complete  renunciation,  Francis 
accepted  also  perfect  joy.  There  were  times  and  hours 
when  there  was  a  perfect  song  within  his  soul,  and  he  would 
begin  at  last  to  hum  the  melody  he  heard  within  himself, 
hum  it  in  French  as  in  the  old  days  when  he  went  out  with 
Brother  Giles  to  announce  the  gospel.  Clearer  and  clearer 
would  the  melody  sound  to  him,  and  stronger  and  stronger 
did  it  rise  in  him  —  next  he  would  snatch  up  a  couple  of 
pieces  of  wood  or  two  boughs,  place  one  to  his  chin  as  if  it 
were  a  violin,  and  draw  the  other  one  across  it  as  the  bow  is 
used  in  playing  the  violin.  Louder  and  louder  would  he  sing, 
more  and  more  eagerly  did  he  carry  out  his  imitation  playing 
whose  melody  none  but  himself  could  hear,  while  he  rhyth- 
mically rocked  his  body  back  and  forth  with  the  tune.  Fi- 
nally his  feelings  would  overcome  him,  and  letting  the  violin 
and  bow  fall  he  would  burst  into  scalding  tears,  and  sink  into 
his  own  soul  as  into  a  great  wave.2 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cc.  78,  80.  Compare  c.  81  (parable  of  the  Two  Pages, 
of  whom  one  was  bold  enough  to  look  upon  the  king's  bride  and  for  that  was 
cast  out  of  the  castle). 

2  Spec,  perf.,  c.  93.     Cel.,  V.  sec.,  II,  c.  90  (d'Al.). 


CHAPTER  IV 
LA    VERNA   AND  THE  STIGMATA 

DURING  the  summer  of  1224  Francis'  health  seems 
to  have  improved,  and  in  August  he  left  Rieti. 
The  goal  of  this  journey  was  the  mountain  La 
Verna  in  Casentino,  which  had  been  given  to  him 
by  Orlando  dei  Cattani  in  12 13;  he  wished  along  with  the 
most  faithful  Brothers  —  Leo,  Angelo,  Masseo,  Silvestro, 
Illuminato  —  to  celebrate  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin (August  15)  and  then  to  prepare  himself  by  a  forty  days' 
fast  for  the  feast  of  St.  Michael  (September  29).  In  common 
with  the  rest  of  the  people  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Francis  nour- 
ished a  special  devotion  to  this  Archangel,  signifer  sanctus 
Michaelis,  the  standard-bearer  of  the  Heavenly  Host,  and 
the  one  who  with  his  trumpet  was  to  wake  the  dead  in  their 
graves  on  the  Last  Day  —  " S jaele-Mikal "  (Soul-Michael), 
as  he  is  called  for  that  reason  in  the  old  Norsk  Draumkvaede.1 
Immediately  after  having  received  the  Alverna  hill  as  a 
gift,  Francis  had  sent  a  couple  of  Brothers  there  to  take 
possession  of  it.  With  the  help  of  the  Duke  Orlando's  people 
the  Brothers  had  established  themselves  upon  a  plateau 
high  up  on  the  cliff,  and  had  built  some  huts  of  clay  and  inter- 
woven branches,  as  Francis  liked  it;  next  the  Duke  Orlando 
built  a  little  church  which  received  the  same  name  as  the 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  149  (d'AL).  Compare  Brother  Leo  in  Francis'  Blessing  (Ap- 
pendix, pp.  347-348).  "Beatus  Franciscus  duobus  annis  ante  mortem  suam 
fecit  quadrigesimam  in  loco  Alverne  ad  honorem  beate  Virginis  Marie  matris 
Dei  et  beati  Michaelis  archangeli  a  festo  assumpsionis  sancte  Marie  virginis 
usque  ad  festum  sancti  Michaelis  septembris."  Besides  this  fast  in  honor 
of  St.  Michael,  and  the  lenten  fast,  and  the  fast  prescribed  in  the  Rule  of  the 
Order  from  All  Saints'  Day  to  Christmas,  Francis  appears  to  have  fasted  forty 
days  in  honor  of  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul,  ending  with  their  feast-day,  June  29,  and 
finally  in  honor  of  Mary  from  June  29  to  August  15  (Bonav.,  IX,  3.  Com- 
pare Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  150  (d'AL),  on  Francis'  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin). 

291 


292  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

Portiuncula  chapel,  namely,  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  "Our 
Lady  of  the  Angels."1 

During  the  trip  to  La  Verna,  Francis'  strength  again 
failed  him,  and  the  Brothers  went  into  a  farmyard  to  borrow 
an  ass  for  their  master.  When  the  peasant  heard  who  it 
was  that  wanted  to  use  the  beast,  he  came  out  himself. 
"Art  thou  the  Brother  Francis  there  is  so  much  said  about?" 
he  asked.  Receiving  an  affirmative  answer,  he  added,  "Then 
take  care  that  thou  art  as  good  in  reality  as  they  say,  for 
there  are  many  who  have  confidence  in  thee!"  Stirred  to 
his  innermost  depths,  Francis  cast  himself  down  and  kissed 
the  peasant's  feet  in  thanks  for  his  reminder.2  May  it  not 
have  been  the  same  peasant  who  himself  undertook  to  guide 
Francis  and  the  Brothers  to  La  Verna?  Whoever  it  was  he 
was  seized  by  an  overwhelming  thirst  in  the  burning  summer 
heat,  and  during  the  long  hard  ascent  from  the  river  Corsa- 
lone  to  the  convent.  When  he  complained  of  his  thirst  to 
Francis,  the  latter  kneeled  down  with  him  in  prayer,  and  a 
moment  after  he  was  able  to  lead  the  peasant  to  a  spring.3 

"But  as  now  Francis  and  his  Brethren  climbed  the  moun- 
tain, and  rested  a  little  at  the  foot  of  an  oak"  —  the  Fioretti 
tell  us  —  "there  was  at  once  a  flock  of  the  birds  of  heaven  in 
the  place,  and  greeted  them  with  cheerful  song  and  fluttering 
of  their  wings.  And  some  rested  on  Francis'  head,  and  others 
on  his  shoulders,  and  again  others  on  his  knees  and  hands. 
But  when  Francis  saw  this  wonder,  he  said:  'I  believe, 
dearest  Brothers,  that  it  is  the  pleasure  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  that  we  establish  a  residence  on  this  lonely  mountain, 
where  our  sisters  the  birds  rejoice  so  much  over  our  coming.' 

"But  when  the  Count  Orlando  heard  that  Brother  Francis 
and  his  Friars  were  going  to  build  on  Mount  Alverna,  he  was 
highly  pleased  over  it,  and  the  next  day  he  went  there  with 
many  from  his  castle,  and  they  came  and  brought  bread  and 
wine  and  other  things  with  them,  to  Francis  and  his  Friars. 
And  as  he  approached  the  place  he  found  them  praying,  and 
he  went  up  and  greeted  them.  Then  Francis  arose  and  re- 
ceived Lord  Orlando  and  his  followers  with  great  love  and 

1  See  page  105.         2  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  103  (d'Al.). 
3  Cel.,  V.  sec,  11,  17  (d'Al.). 


LA     VERNA     AND     THE     STIGMATA  293 

joy,  and  they  sat  down  to  speak  together.  And  after  they 
had  spoken  together,  and  Brother  Francis  had  thanked  Count 
Orlando  for  the  mountain  he  had  given  him,  and  had  preached 
a  little,  the  evening  fell.  And  Lord  Orlando  took  Francis 
and  his  Brethren  aside  and  said  to  them:  'My  dearest  Broth- 
ers, it  is  not  my  intention  that  you  shall  suffer  from  want  on 
this  wild  mountain,  and  therefore  I  say  to  you  once  for  all, 
that  if  you  are  in  need  of  anything  you  shall  only  send  a 
messenger  to  me  after  it,  and  if  you  do  not  do  so  I  will  be 
very' angry  about  it.'  And  after  he  had  said  this  he  with- 
drew with  his  followers  to  his  castle. 

"Francis  then  made  the  Friars  sit  down  and  determine 
how  they  were  to  live,  and  he  especially  impressed  upon  them 
the  keeping  of  holy  poverty  in  their  hearts,  and  said  to  them : 
'Do  not  pay  so  much  attention  to  Lord  Orlando's  friendly 
offering  as  to  break  the  troth  you  have  promised  our  Lady, 
the  holy  Poverty!'  And  after  many  beautiful  and  pious 
words  about  this  thing,  he  concluded,  saying:  'This  is  the 
way  of  life  I  lay  upon  you  and  myself.  For  as  I  see  that  my 
death  approaches,  I  wish  to  be  alone  with  God  and  lament 
my  sins.  And  Brother  Leo  can  bring  me  a  little  bread  and  a 
little  water,  as  seems  fit  to  him,  but  if  anyone  comes,  answer 
for  me,  and  let  no  one  come  to  me ! '  And  when  he  had  said 
these  words,  he  gave  them  his  blessing  and  went  to  his  hut, 
which  was  under  a  great  beech  tree,  and  the  Friars  remained 
in  their  huts."  1 

There  are  still  shown  by  La  Verna  the  places  where  St. 
Francis  stopped  —  the  great  overhanging  stone,  Sasso  or 
Masso  spico,  under  which  he  used  to  pray,  the  dark  damp 
cave  where  he  had  his  hard  bed  on  a  projecting  shelf,  Brother 
Leo's  grotto  high  up  on  the  mountain  side,  where  Francis 
many  a  morning  in  the  early  hours  attended  his  friend's  mass 
and  prayed  to  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  in  the 
white  Host  and  golden  chalice,  lifted  on  high  in  Brother 
Leo's  hand  as  the  only  comfort  for  poor  pilgrims  in  this  vale 
of  tears. 

For  again  Francis  seems  to  have  become  disquieted,  troub- 
led, and  bowed  down  with  thoughts  of  the  future.     How  was 

1  Fioretti,  ia  e  2a  considerazione  delle  sacre  sante  stimmate.    Actus,  cap.  IX. 


294  SAI-NT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

it  all  going  to  end?  They  had  taken  his  Brothers,  his  sons, 
from  him,  and  whither  were  they  taking  them  now?  They 
were  going  there  where  Francis  did  not  wish  them  to  go,  and 
he  had  to  look  on  without  power.  .  .  . 

In  vain  did  Francis  issue  his  Ideal  Image  of  what  a  perfect 
Friar  Minor,  a  perfect  Provincial  Minister,  a  perfect  General 
of  the  Order,  should  be  —  he  knew  well  that  the  facts  were 
widely  different.  Brother  Elias  and  others  of  his  mind  were 
not,  as  Francis  would  have  it,  satisfied  with  "a  book  and  an 
ink-horn  and  one  pen  and  a  signet," — they  collected  books  and 
studied  church  law,  and  it  was  only  waste  of  time  to  exhort 
them  to  act  towards  their  Brothers  in  the  spirit  not  in  the 
letter  of  the  law.  Again  and  again  might  Francis  sigh  to 
God:  "Lord,  I  commit  to  thee  the  family  thou  hast  given 
me  —  I  cannot  lead  them  any  longer  myself!"  1  But  again 
and  again  the  beautiful  dream  would  return,  that  all  was  as 
in  the  old  days,  when  nothing  stood  between  him  and  his 
dear  children,  and  they  were  united  in  harmony  again  and 
were  to  be  separated  no  more.2 

One  day  Francis  awaked  out  of  this  his  constant  dream, 
and  realized  anew  the  truth,  and  had  recourse  to  a  method 
he  had  used  before,  to  lift  the  edge  of  the  veil  that  hides  the 
future.  He  ordered  Brother  Leo  to  take  the  Book  of  Gospels 
and  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Trinity  to  open  it  in  three  places. 
Leo  did  as  his  master  desired,  and  all  three  times  it  opened 
at  the  Passion  of  Christ.  Then  Francis  understood  that 
there  was  nothing  for  him  but  to  suffer  to  the  end,  and  that 
his  days  of  good  fortune  were  gone  for  ever.  And  he  resigned 
himself  to  God's  will. 

In  the  night  which  followed,  Francis  could  not  sleep. 
In  vain  did  he  turn  on  his  hard  bed  —  in  vain  did  he  listen 
for  the  call  of  the  Friars  of  La  Verna,  announcing  the  hour 
for  saying  matins.     "All  will  be  as  it  should  be  in  heaven," 

iaDomine,  recommendo  tibi  familiam,  quam  dedisti  mihi!"  Spec,  perf., 
c.  81.  "  Sufficiant  autem  sibi  pro  se  habitus  et  libellus,  pro  aliis  vero  pennarolus 
cum  calamo  et  pugillari  et  sigillum.  Non  sit  aggregator  librorum."  Cap.  80. 
Compare  cc.  71  and  85,  and  also  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cc.  139-140  (d'Al.). 

2  "si  secundum  voluntatem  meam  fratres  vellent  ambulare  .  .  .  nollem 
quod  alium  ministrum  haberent  nisi  me  usque  ad  diem  mortis  meae."  Spec, 
p.  138.     Cel.,  I.e.,  c.  141. 


LA    VERNA    AND     THE     STIGMATA         295 

Francis  said  to  comfort  himself;  " there,  at  least,  there  is 
eternal  peace  and  happiness!"  And  with  these  thoughts  he 
fell  asleep. 

Then  it  seemed  to  him  that  an  angel  stood  by  his  bed  with 
violin  and  bow  in  hand.  "  Francis,"  said  the  shining  denizen 
of  heaven,  "I  will  play  for  thee  as  we  play  before  the  throne 
of  God  in  heaven."  And  the  angel  placed  the  violin  to  his 
chin  and  drew  the  bow  across  the  strings  a  single  time  only. 
Then  Brother  Francis  was  filled  with  so  great  a  joy,  and  his 
soul  was  filled  with  such  living  sweetness,  that  it  was  as  if 
he  had  a  body  no  longer,  and  knew  of  no  secret  sorrow.  "  And 
if  the  angel  had  drawn  the  bow  down  across  the  strings  again," 
thus  Francis  told  his  Brothers  the  next  morning — "then 
would  my  soul  have  left  my  body  from  uncontrollable  happi- 
ness." 1 

After  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  Francis  withdrew  from 
the  Brothers  into  still  greater  solitude.  The  place  he  had 
selected  for  himself  was  on  the  far  side  of  a  deep  ravine,  and 
to  cross  over  to  it,  a  felled  tree-trunk  had  to  be  used  as  a 
bridge  over  the  abyss.  Here  Francis  installed  himself  in  a 
hut,  and  had  made  the  arrangements  with  Brother  Leo  that 
he  should  visit  him  twice  in  the  twenty-four  hours,  once  by 
day  to  bring  bread  and  water,  once  by  night  at  matins.  As 
Leo  stepped  upon  the  bridge  he  was  to  say  aloud  the  words 
with  which  the  recitation  of  the  Breviary  begins  —  the  verse 
of  the  psalm,  "O  Lord,  thou  wilt  open  my  lips"  (Domine, 
labia  mea  aperies).  If  Francis  from  the  other  side  gave  the 
proper  response:  "And  my  mouth  shall  declare  Thy  praise" 
(Et  os  meurn  annuntiabit  laudem  tuarn),  then  Leo  was  to  go 
across  the  bridge  and  say  the  matins  with  Francis.  But  if 
he  got  no  answer  he  was  to  go  quietly  home  again.  "But 
Francis  said  this  because  he  was  sometimes  in  such  a  state 
of  rapture  that  he  could  not  speak  for  a  whole  day,  he  was  so 
occupied  with  God,"  says  the  Fioretti. 

For  a  while  Brother  Leo  carried  out  his  master's  commands 

1  Fioretti,  2a  e  3a  consid.  —  Of  a  falcon  whose  scream  used  to  wake  Francis 
in  the  morning,  see  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  127.  When  Francis  was  sick  or  tired,  it 
there  tells  us,  the  falcon  noticed  it  and  waked  him  at  a  later  hour.  Compare 
Celano,  Tract,  de  miraculis,  IV,  25,  and  Bonav.,  VIII,  10. 


296  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

correctly.  Then  there  came  a  night  when  he  stood  on  the 
usual  place  by  the  bridge  and  said  the  usual  words.  But 
Francis  did  not  answer. 

Now  it  was  a  moonlit  night  —  clear  with  the  coolness  of 
autumn,  like  many  September  nights  in  the  Apennines. 
The  county  lay  clear  and  silent  and  lonely,  and  the  moon- 
light on  the  beech  trees  looked  like  snow.  The  moon  shone 
into  the  empty  hut,  and  after  a  brief  delay  Leo  crossed  the 
bridge. 

He  carefully  crept  through  the  trees  —  there  was  no  trace 
of  Francis  to  be  seen.  At  last  he  heard  a  murmuring  as  of 
one  who  prayed,  and  by  following  the  noise  he  discovered 
Francis.  With  arms  spread  out  in  the  form  of  a  cross  and 
his  face  turned  to  heaven,  he  lay  prostrate,  and  prayed  aloud. 
Leo  stopped,  stood  motionless  in  the  shadow  of  a  tree,  and 
now  could  hear  the  words  of  the  master's  prayer.  In  the 
clear,  almost  frosty  night  air  they  reached  him  one  by  one. 

"O  my  dearest  Lord  and  God,"  said  Francis,  invoking 
heaven,  "what  art  thou,  and  what  indeed  am  I,  Thy  little, 
useless  worm  of  a  servant?" 

This  he  repeated  over  and  over  again,  until  Brother  Leo 
in  moving  trod  upon  a  twig  which  snapped.  At  this  noise 
Francis  ceased  praying  at  once  and  stood  up.  "In  the  name 
of  Jesus,"  he  called  out,  "stay  still,  whoever  thou  art,  and  do 
not  move  from  the  place!"  And  he  approached  Brother 
Leo. 

But  Brother  Leo  said  afterwards  to  the  other  Brothers, 
that  in  this  moment  he  was  so  frightened  that  if  the  earth 
had  opened  he  would  have  gladly  hidden  himself  in  its 
depths.  For  he  was  afraid  that  Francis,  in  punishment  for 
his  disobedience,  would  no  longer  have  him  with  him.  And 
his  love  of  Francis  was  so  great  that  it  seemed  to  him  that  he 
could  not  live  without  him. 

But  Francis  came  close  to  the  tree  and  said,  "Who  art 
thou?"  And  trembling  all  over,  Brother  Leo  answered,  "It 
is  I  —  Leo!"  But  Francis  said  to  him:  "God's  little  lamb, 
why  hast  thou  come  hither?  Have  I  not  told  thee  that  thou 
must  not  spy  upon  me!  In  the  name  of  holy  obedience, 
tell  me  if  thou  hast  perceived  anything!"     But  he  answered'. 


LA     VERNA     AND     THE     STIGMATA         297 

"  Father,  I  heard  thee  speak  and  say  and  with  much  devotion, 
pray:  'My  dearest  Lord  and  God,  what  art  thou,  and  what 
am  I,  thy  little,  useless  worm  of  a  servant?'"  And  Brother 
Leo  cast  himself  on  his  knees  and  said  with  great  reverence, 
"Father,  I  beg  thee,  that  thou  explainest  to  me  the  words 
I  heard!" 

"O  little  lamb  of  Jesus  Christ,"  said  he,  "Omy  own  brother 
Leo!  In  that  prayer  which  thou  didst  hear,  two  lights  were 
manifested  to  me:  one  light  in  which  I  knew  the  Creator, 
and  one  in  which  I  knew  myself.  When  I  said,  'What  art 
thou,  my  Lord  and  God,  and  what  ami?'  then  I  was  in  the 
light  of  contemplation,  in  which  I  saw  the  infinite  depth  of 
the  Divine  Godhead  and  my  own  wretched  abyss  of  misery. 
Therefore  I  said:  'What  art  thou,  Lord,  the  Highest,  the 
Wise,  the  All-good,  the  All-merciful,  that  thou  troubles t 
Thyself  about  me  who  am  the  most  miserable  worm  of  all, 
a  little,  abhorrent  and  despicable  creation!'  These,  then, 
were  the  words  thou  heardest,  little  lamb  of  God!  But 
watch  thyself,  that  thou  spiest  on  me  no  more,  and  go  back 
to  thy  cell  with  God's  blessing!"1 

The  days  and  nights  went  by  —  soon  the  feast  of  the 
Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross  (September  14)  would  be  at 
hand,  the  feast  in  honor  of  the  winning  in  the  year  629  by 
the  Emperor  Heraclius  of  the  True  Cross  which  the  Persian 
King  Cosroes  fourteen  years  before  had  taken  away  with  him 
as  conqueror  from  Jerusalem. 

The  Cross  and  the  Crucified  One  had  always  been  an  object 
of  the  deepest  feeling  on  Francis'  part. 

It  was  the  voice  of  the  Cross  that  in  San  Damiano's  lonely 
church  in  1207  had  converted  him  from  the  world  to  follow 
Christ  in  naked  poverty.  "From  that  hour,"  says  the  Three 
Brothers'  Legend,  "his  heart  was  so  sore  and  melted  witn 
the  memory  of  Christ's  sufferings,  that  all  his  life  he  bore  the 
wounds  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  his  heart." 

It  was  the  sufferings  of  the  Crucified  One  that  stood  before 
his  eyes,  when  as  a  young  man  he  went  and  wept  in  the  woods 
by  Portiuncula.  A  person  met  him  there  one  day  and  asked 
the  reason  of  his  sorrow.     "I  am  weeping,"  answered  Francis, 

1  Actus,  c.  IX.     Fior.,  3a  considerazione. 


298  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

for  "the  pain  of  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ!"  And  so  great,  so 
real  was  his  unhappiness,  that  even  the  other  began  to  weep. 

To  honor  the  Cross  was  the  object  of  the  prayer  Francis 
had  prescribed  for  his  Brothers.  "We  pray  to  thee,  O  Lord, 
and  praise  thee,  because  with  thy  Holy  Cross  thou  hast 
redeemed  the  world!"  And  he  would  never  permit  the 
Brothers  to  step  upon  two  straws  or  two  twigs  that  were 
lying  across  each  other. 

And  the  others  thought  of  him  under  the  symbolism  of  the 
Cross.  Silvester  dreamt  that  a  cross  of  gold  went  out  of  the 
mouth  of  Brother  Francis  and  over  the  world,  and  Brother 
Pacificus  saw  him  in  a  dream  in  the  form  of  a  cross  pierced 
by  two  swords.  Leo  once  saw  a  great  gilded  cross  going  in 
front  of  Francis.1 

In  the  Mass  of  the  Feast  of  the  Exaltation  of  the  Holy 
Cross  it  is  as  if  places  in  the  Liturgy  were  given  for  all  the 
words  of  the  Church  and  gospel  referring  to  the  Cross.  "This 
sign  of  the  Cross,"  it  says,  "shall  stand  in  heaven  when  the 
Lord  comes  to  judgment."  Or,  in  the  words  of  Paul:  "We 
should  be  glorified  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
whom  is  our  salvation,  life,  and  resurrection."  Or  the  fol- 
lowing: "Christ,  our  Saviour,  who  saved  Peter  on  the  sea, 
save  us,  have  mercy  on  us  by  the  power  of  thy  Cross." 
"Thou  strong  Cross,  thou  noble  Cross,  nobler  than  all  the 
trees,  no  woods  produce  thy  equal,  a  tree  with  such  leaves 
and  flowers,"  is  in  a  hymn  for  that  day.  And  again  about 
the  Cross,  to  the  Cross:  "Thou  art  fairer  than  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  thou  art  the  tree  of  life  in  the  middle  of  the  garden 
of  paradise."  "Behold  the  Cross  of  the  Lord!  Let  all  its 
enemies  fly!  The  Lion  of  Judah's  stem  hath  conquered, 
Alleluia!" 

Penetrated  by  all  these  strong  words,  Francis  lay  in  prayer 
outside  his  cell  on  the  morning  of  the  fourteenth  of  September. 
It  was  not  yet  day,  but  while  awaiting  the  sunrise  he  prayed, 
with  face  turned  to  the  east,  with  hands  upraised  and  extended 
arms: 

"O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  two  favors  I  beg  of  thee  before  I 

1  Actus,  cap.  38.  Compare  Verba  fr.  Conradi  (Opusc.  de  critique,  I,  pp. 
380-381.) 


Photo :  A  nderson 


ST.     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 
From  the  fresco  attributed  to  Cimabue  at  Assisi 


LA    VERNA    AND     THE     STIGMATA         299 

die.  The  first  is,  that  I  may,  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  feel  in 
my  soul  and  in  my  body  the  suffering  which  thou,  O  gentle 
Jesus,  sustained  in  thy  bitter  passion.  And  the  second 
favor  is,  that  I,  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  may  receive  into  my 
heart  that  excessive  charity  by  which  thou,  the  Son  of  God, 
wast  inflamed,  and  which  actuated  thee  willingly  to  suffer 
so  much  for  us  sinners." 

"And  as  he  long  prayed  thus,"  says  the  old  story,  "he  felt 
a  certainty  that  God  would  vouchsafe  him  these  two  things, 
and  that  it  would  be  given  him  to  receive  both  parts,  so  far  as 
it  was  possible  for  a  creature.  And  after  he  had  received 
this  promise,  he  began  with  great  devotion  to  meditate  on 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  on  the  boundless  charity  of  Christ, 
and  the  glow  of  piety  grew  so  strong  in  him,  that  with  charity 
and  pity  he  was  all  transformed  to  Jesus. 

"And  as  he  lay  in  this  prayer  and  burned  with  this  flame, 
behold,  it  came  to  pass  that  he  in  the  same  morning  hour  saw 
a  seraph  coming  down  from  heaven  with  six  luminous  wings. 
And  the  seraph  slowly  approached  Francis,  so  that  he  could 
discern  and  clearly  see  that  it  bore  an  image  of  a  crucified 
man,  and  its  wings  were  so  placed  that  two  were  raised  over 
the  head,  two  were  extended  for  flight,  and  with  two  it  cov- 
ered its  body. 

"But  when  Francis  saw  this  vision  he  was  much  frightened, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  was  filled  with  joy  and  sorrow  and 
wonder.  For  he  had  great  joy  in  the  gentle  Jesus  who 
showed  Himself  to  him  so  intimately  and  looked  so  lovingly 
upon  him,  but  it  gave  him  inexpressible  sorrow  to  see  the 
Lord  fastened  to  the  Cross.  And,  moreover,  he  wondered 
over  so  unusual  and  astonishing  a  vision,  for  he  knew  that 
mortal  suffering  is  not  compatible  with  a  seraph's  immortal 
spirit.  But  as  he  wondered  thus,  it  was  revealed  to  him  by 
the  one  before  him  that  this  vision  by  a  special  provision  of 
God  was  granted  him  that  he  should  understand  that  it  was 
not  by  bodily  martyrdom,  but  through  an  inner  flame,  that 
he  should  be  transformed  entirely  into  the  likeness  of  Christ 
the  Crucified. 

"But  now  after  the  wonderful  vision  had  finally  disappeared, 
an  excessive  glow  was  left  in  Francis'  heart,  and  a  living  love 


300  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

of  God,  and  in  his  body  the  vision  left  a  wonderful  image  and 
imprint  of  Christ's  sufferings.  For  at  once  in  his  hands  and 
feet  marks  like  nails  began  to  appear,  so  that  they  seemed 
perforated  in  the  middle,  and  the  heads  of  the  nails  were 
within  the  palms  of  the  hands  and  on  the  top  of  the  feet,  and 
the  points  of  the  nails  were  on  the  backs  of  the  hands  and 
under  the  feet,  and  they  were  bent  over,  so  that  there  was 
space  between  the  flesh  and  points  of  the  nails  for  a  finger, 
as  if  in  a  ring,  and  the  nails  had  a  round,  black  head.  And 
so  in  his  left  side  the  image  of  a  lance-thrust  appeared,  with- 
out cicatrice,  but  red  and  bleeding,  out  of  which  blood  often 
issued  from  Brother  Francis'  breast  and  saturated  his  habit 
and  clothes. 

"But  Francis  said  nothing  of  this  to  the  Brothers,  but  hid 
his  hands,  and  he  could  not  put  the  soles  of  his  feet  to  the 
earth  any  more.  And  the  Brothers  found  that  his  habit  and 
clothes  were  bloody  when  they  went  to  the  wash,  and  then 
they  understood  that  he  bore  the  image  and  likeness  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  the  Crucified  in  his  side  and  likewise  on 
his  hands  and  feet."  * 

1  Fioretti,  3a  considerazione.  I  use  this  late  authority  as  I  think  that  it  is 
essentially  based  on  what  Leo,  Masseo,  Angelo,  and  the  other  Brothers  have 
imparted  either  in  writing  or  orally.  We  know  from  Eccleston  that  Brother 
Leo  willingly  told  the  younger  Brothers  in  the  Order  about  the  stigmatization  — 
see  Anal.  Franc,  I,  p.  245.  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  he  had  also  among  his 
rotuli  several  relating  to  the  event  at  La  Verna;  some  of  these  have  appeared 
as  part  of  the  Actus  beati  Francisci  (c.  IX,  c.  XXXIX).  Moreover,  we  possess 
directly  from  Leo's  hand  the  most  authentic  testimony  of  Francis'  stigmatiza- 
tion —  his  remarks  on  the  blessing  Francis  wrote  and  gave  him  at  La  Verna 
(see  Appendix,  p.  347).  The  description  of  the  stigmatization  in  Thomas  of 
Celano's  Vita  prima,  II,  c.  Ill,  and  in  the  Mirac.  trat.,  c.  II,  n.  4,  presents,  in 
spite  of  the  much  shorter  form,  an  unmistakable  resemblance  to  the  relation 
in  the  Fioretti,  and  this  is  not  surprising  when  we  recollect  that  Celano  always 
worked  in  company  of  Leo  and  the  other  confidential  friends  of  Francis.  (Ap- 
pendix, pp.  352,  368-369.)  Compare  Bonaventure,  XIII,  3,  where  essentially 
the  same  relation  is  found. 

Since  the  appearance  of  Sabatier's  defence  of  the  stigmatization  of  Francis 
(Vie  de  S.  Fr.,  pp.  401-412)  the  general  view  among  historians  has  been  turned 
in  the  direction  of  accepting  it.  Of  Karl  Hampe's  attempt  to  separate  the 
stigmatization  from  the  vision  of  the  seraph  on  Mount  Alverna  and  to  transfer 
it  to  a  time  no  more  exactly  stated  shortly  before  Francis'  death,  something 
will  be  found  said  in  the  Appendix.  Hampe's  article  ("Die  Wundmale  des  hi. 
Franz  v.  Assisi")  appeared  in  the  " Historisches  Zeitschrift,"  1906,  pp.  385-402. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE   FAREWELL   TO   THE  BRETHREN 

FRANCIS  could  not  long  keep  the  wonder  a  secret  that 
had  come  to  him.  For  one  thing  he  was  in  the  midst  of 
a  circle  of  inspired  and  devoted  friends  whose  central 
object  he  inevitably  was,  and  who  were  constantly 
occupied  with  him.  On  the  other  hand,  the  miracle  caused 
him  such  great  pain  and  made  his  existence  so  difficult,  that 
he  had  to  have  recourse  to  the  assistance  of  others.  Probably 
Leo  was  the  first  one  he  initiated  into  the  secret.  That 
Francis  might  be  able  to  move  his  hands  and  feet,  bandages 
had  to  be  wound  around  the  projecting  parts  of  the  nails. 
Leo  shifted  these  bandages  daily,  except  —  as  it  is  said  — 
from  Thursday  afternoon  to  Saturday  morning,  because  Fran- 
cis wished  to  suffer  with  Christ.  Brother  Rufino,  too,  who 
washed  for  the  master,  found  out  all  about  the  mystery, 
when  he  found  the  left  side  of  the  clothes  saturated  with  the 
blood  from  the  wound  in  the  side.  It  was  later  that  he,  by 
a  trick,  managed  to  touch  and  see  this  wound.1 

Of  the  state  of  Francis'  soul,  after  he  had  received  the 
wounds,  it  is  hard  to  form  a  conception.  From  now  on  he  is 
so  high  above  ordinary  mankind,  that  the  best  we  can  do  — 
like  Brother  Leo,  who  often  thought  he  saw  the  master  float- 
ing among  the  tree- tops  —  is  to  cast  ourselves  down,  kiss 

1  Actus,  cc.  39  and  34.  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cc.  98-100.  Thomas  of  Celano  says 
here  explicitly  of  Rufino:  "Hie  solus  vidit  in  vita,  caeterorum  nullus  usque 
post  mortem"  (d'Alencon's  ed.,  p.  274).  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  regarded  as 
a  deceit  of  Brother  Elias  of  Cortona,  that  Brother  Thomas  gave  credence  to, 
when  we  find  in  the  Vita  prima  (II,  c.  Ill,  n.  95) :  "felix  Helias,  qui  dum  viveret 
sanctus,  utcumque  illud  videre  meruit;  sed  non  minus  felix  Rufinus"  etc. 
Brother  Pacificus  by  a  trick  managed  to  let  a  friar  from  Brescia  see  the 
stigmata  in  the  hands.     (Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  cap.  99,  d'Al.) 

301 


302  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

the  dust  once  trod  by  the  blessed  one's  feet,  and  ejaculate 
with  the  faithful  disciple:  ''God  be  merciful  to  my  sins  and 
let  me  by  the  intercession  of  this  holy  man  find  pity  with 
thee!"1 

The  first  effect  of  the  stigmatization  seems  to  have  been  a 
great  joy,  a  complete  liberation  from  all  care  and  dejection. 
This  feeling  of  inner  happiness  refound  was  what  gave  itself 
voice  in  the  Song  of  Praise  Francis  wrote  immediately  after 
he  had  received  the  wounds,  "in  thanks  for  the  grace  that 
had  befallen  him."2     In  its  entirety  the  Laud  reads  thus: 

"Thou  art  holy,  Lord  God.  Thou  art  the  God  of  Gods, 
who  alone  doest  wonderful  things.  Thou  art  strong,  thou 
art  great,  thou  art  most  high,  thou  art  omnipotent,  thou 
art  Holy  Father,  the  King  of  heaven  and  earth.  Thou  art 
three  in  one,  one  Lord  God  of  Gods.  Thou  art  goodness,  all 
goodness,  the  greatest  goodness,  living  and  true  Lord  God. 
Thou  art  charity,  thou  art  wisdom,  thou  art  humility, 
thou  art  patience,  thou  art  beauty,  thou  art  security,  thou 
art  quietude,  thou  art  joy,  thou  art  our  hope,  thou  art 
justice  .  .  .  and  temperance.  .  .  .  Thou  art  all  our  riches 
to  satiety.  .  .  .  Thou  art  gentleness.  .  .  .  Thou  art  the 
protector,  thou  art  the  guardian  and  defender.  .  .  .  Thou 
art  our  refuge  and  strength.  Thou  art  our  faith,  hope  and 
charity.  Thou  art  our  great  sweetness.  Thou  art  infinite 
goodness,  great  and  admirable  Lord  God  Almighty,  pious  and 
merciful  and  Saviour."  3 

At  this  very  time  when  Francis  felt  himself  raised  to  the 
highest  summits  of  Christian  joy,  and  like  Moses  on  Nebo, 
already  saw  the  promised  land  afar  off,  his  best  friend  was  the 


ia<Deus,  propitius  esto  mihi  peccatori  et,  per  merita  hujus  sanctissimi 
viri,  fac  me  tuam  sanctissimam  misericordiam  invenire.'  Quum  tantum 
elevatum  aspiceret  quod  ipsum  tangere  non  valebat,  se  sub  sancto  Francisco 
prosternens,  orationem  [talem]  faciebat  [fr.  Leo]."     Actus,  c.  39,  6-7. 

2  "propter  visionem  et  allocutionem  seraphym  et  impressionem  stigmatum 
Christi  in  corpore  suo  fecit  has  laudes  .  .  .  et  manu  sua  scripsit,  gratias  agens 
Domino  de  beneficio  sibi  collate"  Brother  Leo's  testimony  concerning 
Francis'  blessing  given  to  him.     See  Appendix,  pp.  347-348. 

3  For  the  Latin  text  see  Appendix,  p.  349,  n.  1.  I  also  refer  to  Faloci- 
Pulignani's  monograph:  Tre  Autograft  di  S.  Francesco  (S.  Maria  degli  Angeli, 
1895). 


THE  FAREWELL  TO  THE  BRETHREN  303 

object  of  a  great  temptation,  —  not  of  bodily,  but  of  spiritual 
kind,  we  are  told  by  the  authorities  without  any  further 
enlightenment.  Was  Brother  Leo  perhaps  tempted  by  a  feel- 
ing of  envy  of  the  master?  Did  he  feel  jealous  and  dis- 
quieted in  seeing  his  friend  penetrate  into  regions  where  he 
could  not  follow  him?  In  any  case  he  seems  to  have  sought 
for  a  proof  that  he  was  not  forgotten,  an  assurance  that  the 
old  relations,  in  spite  of  the  wonder  that  had  happened  to 
Francis,  were  still  as  strong  as  ever.  Leo  thought  of  the  times 
when  Francis  wrote  to  him  in  such  a  friendly  manner,  and 
every  one  who  knows  what  effect  a  dear  and  well-known 
handwriting  on  a  letter  can  have,  will  understand  Brother 
Leo's  longing  to  have  something  from  Francis'  hand.  He 
was  to  be  seen  every  day,  but  what  good  was  that,  when  it 
seemed  as  if  the  old-time  friendship  between  them  was  no 
longer  in  existence? 

With  his  usual  delicate  perception  Francis  seems  to  have 
known  what  was  troubling  his  friend's  spirit.  One  day  there- 
fore he  called  for  Leo,  and  bade  him  bring  parchment,  pen  and 
ink.  While  Leo  in  expectation  stood  by  his  side,  Francis 
wrote  down  first  the  Song  of  Praise  given  above,  then  turned 
the  sheet  over  and  inscribed  upon  the  back  in  large  letters 
the  Patriarchal  Benediction  from  the  Old  Testament: 

"The  Lord  bless  thee,  and  keep  thee.  The  Lord  show 
his  face  to  thee,  and  have  mercy  on  thee.  The  Lord  turn 
his  countenance  to  thee,  and  give  thee  peace!" 

For  a  moment  Francis  paused  —  then  he  finally  added, 
"The  Lord  bless  —  Brother  Leo  —  thee!"  And  instead  of 
his  name  he  put  beneath  the  whole  the  Old  Testament  symbol 
of  the  Cross,  T  (Thau),  erected  on  Golgotha  over  a  human 
skull  as  emblem  of  death  conquered  by  Christ. 

With  glance  and  smile  both  charged  with  goodness,  Francis 
handed  the  inscribed  parchment  to  Brother  Leo.  "Take 
this,"  he  said,  "and  keep  it  with  thee  to  the  day  of  thy  death!" 
Then  all  of  Brother  Leo's  evil  thoughts  left  him,  and  with 
tears  in  his  eyes  he  seized  the  pledge  of  inviolable  friendship 
which  the  master  gave  him.  Even  until  he  became  an  old 
man  —  Leo  died  in  12  71  — he  carried  next  to  his  heart  this 
parchment  from  La  Verna,  and  after  his  death  it  went  as  an 


304  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

inheritance  to  the  Franciscan  Church  in  Assisi,  where  it  is  to 
the  present  day  preserved  in  the  sacristy.1 

On  the  thirtieth  of  September,  Francis  with  Brother  Leo 
left  Mount  Alverna.  Duke  Orlando  had  sent  an  ass  on  which 
the  stigmatized  one  who  could  not  use  his  feet  was  to  make 
the  journey.  Francis  heard  mass  early  in  the  morning  with 
his  Brothers  in  the  little  chapel,  and  gave  them  a  last 
admonition.  Then  he  took  leave  of  each  one  in  turn  —  of 
Masseo,  Angelo,  Silvestro,  Uluminato.  "Live  in  peace, 
dearest  sons,  and  farewell!  My  body  is  to  be  separated  from 
you,  but  my  heart  remains  with  you!  I  go  forth  with  Brother 
Little  Lamb  of  God  to  Portiuncula,  and  I  come  back  here 
no  more!  Farewell,  sacred  mountain:  farewell,  Mount  Al- 
verna: farewell,  thou  Angel  mountain!  Farewell,  dearest 
Brother  Falcon,  who  used  to  wake  me  with  thy  screams, 
thanks  for  thy  care  of  me!  Farewell,  thou  great  stone,  be- 
neath which  I  used  to  pray;  thee  I  shall  see  no  more!  Fare- 
well, Santa  Maria's  Church  —  to  thee,  mother  of  the  Eternal 
Word,  I  commend  these  my  sons!"  Whilst  the  Brothers 
who  remained  behind  broke  into  lamentations,  Francis  went 
forth  for  the  last  time  from  the  mountain,  where  so  great  a 
thing  had  befallen  him.2 

Francis  rode  to  Borgo  San  Sepolcro;  after  he  had  taken 
leave  of  Duke  Orlando  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Chiusi  he 

1  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  XX.  Bonav.,  XI,  9. —  The  words  of  the  blessing  are 
taken  from  Numbers  vi.  24-26.  On  the  letter  Thau  see  Ezechiel  ix.  4.  On 
Francis  of  Assisi's  use  of  the  same  see  Bonav.,  IV,  9,  and  Cel.  Tract,  de 
miraculis,  c.  II,  n.  3. 

2 1  quote  here  the  Addio  di  S.  Francesco  alia  Verna,  said  to  have  been  written 
by  Brother  Masseo.  All  internal  evidence  points  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
document,  but  the  copy  of  it,  found  in  the  so-called  Capella  delV  Ascensione, 
and  which  is  the  only  existing  manuscript,  dates  only  from  the  sixteenth  century. 
It  is  a  parchment  27  x  13  cm.  (10.8x5.2  in.)  and  begins:  Pax  XPI.  Giesu 
Ma  speranza  mia.  fra  Masseo  peccatore  indigno  servo  di  Giesu  XPO  Compagno  di 
fra  Francesco  da  Assisi  huomo  a  Dio  gratissimo,  and  ends:  Io  fra  Masseo  ho 
scritto  tutto.  Dio  ci  benedica.  Sabatier,  who  did  not  know  of  this  document, 
heard  it  spoken  of  as  an  original  autograph  {Spec,  per/.,  pp.  303-304);  he  gives 
a  copy  not  differing  more  than  the  above  and  following  the  oldest  printed  copy 
(of  1710),  ditto,  pp.  305-308;  the  concluding  words  are  worthy  of  notice:  "Io 
fr.  Masseo  ho  scritto  con  lagrime,"  which  indicates  that  the  words  were  written 
under  the  influence  of  Francis'  recent  departure.  V Addio  di  S.  Francesco  is 
also  found  printed  in  Amoni's  Italian  translation  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda, 
Rome,  1880,  pp.  314-315,  without  statement  of  the  source. 


THE  FAREWELL  TO  THE  BRETHREN  305 

crossed  the  River  Rasina,  followed  by  Brother  Leo,  and  took 
the  road  over  Mount  Arcoppe,  Mount  Fores  to  and  Mount 
Casella.  He  stopped  on  the  top  of  Mount  Casella,  whence 
the  last  view  of  La  Verna  is  to  be  had,  and  he  dismounted 
and  knelt  down.  And  with  his  glance  directed  to  the  distant 
La  Verna,  that  far  away  lifted  its  ridge  up  under  the  heavy 
autumn  clouds,  he  made  the  sign  of  the  Cross  over  it  and  broke 
out  into  a  last  farewell,  a  last  thanksgiving  and  a  last  blessing. 

"Farewell,  thou  mountain  of  God,  thou  holy  mountain, 
Mons  coagulatus,  mons  pinguis,  mons  in  quo  bene  placitum  est 
Deo  habitare!  Farewell,  Mount  Alverna  —  God  the  Father, 
God  the  Son,  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  bless  thee !  Live  in  peace, 
but  I  shall  never  see  thee  more!"  1 

Francis  then  mounted  his  placid  steed  and  rode  down  to 
Monte  Casella.  He  was  absorbed  in  his  thoughts  for  the 
rest  of  the  journey,  so  that  he  passed  through  Borgo  San 
Sepolcro  without  knowing  it;  the  town  was  already  behind 
them  when  he  awoke  from  his  revery  and  asked  if  they  were 
yet  near  Borgo.2 

The  journey  became  a  triumphal  procession.  The  populace 
met  Francis  everywhere  with  olive  boughs  and  the  cry 
Ecco  il  Santo!  "Here  comes  the  Saint!"  He  had  to  give 
his  hand  to  be  kissed,  and  miracles  were  wrought  by  him; 
yes,  a  woman  who  lay  in  agony  and  whose  life  was  in  danger 
was  cured  by  laying  the  bridle  of  the  ass  upon  her,  the  same 
he  had  held  in  his  hands.3  From  Citta  di  Castello,  where 
Francis  stopped  a  whole  month,  and  where  he  among  other 
things  by  a  simple  command  cured  a  woman  who  was  raving 
with  hysterics,  he  went  at  last  to  Portiuncula.  It  was  now 
November,  1224,  and  the  snow  in  the  Apennines  was  already 
deep.  And  now  it  happened  that  Francis,  Brother  Leo  and 
the  peasant  who  had  lent  them  the  ass,  one  evening  could 
find  no  human  habitation,  but  had  to  spend  the  night  in  the 
mountains.     The  snow  gathered  in  drifts  and  they  had  only 

1  Amoni's  work  named  above,  p.  315.  In  La  Verna  these  words  are  to  be 
found  in  a  manuscript  dated  September  30  (also  anniversary  of  the  depar- 
ture), 1818. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  64  (d'AL). 

3  Fioretti,  4a  considerazione.  Cel.,  Vita  prima,  I,  c.  XXII,  n.  63.  Compare 
the  quite  similar  miracle  in  the  succeeding  paragraph  (64). 


306  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

a  projecting  rock  to  take  shelter  under.  For  the  two  Brothers 
this  was  not  so  bad,  but  the  peasant  cursed  and  scolded  — 
this  was  the  reward  for  his  foolish  kindness;  he  might  have 
remained  at  home  and  now  be  lying  in  his  comfortable  bed, 
etc.,  etc.  Francis  managed  at  last  to  quiet  and  calm  the 
angry  man,  and  when  morning  came  the  peasant  announced 
himself  quite  satisfied,  that  he  never  had  slept  better  than  out 
here  among  the  rocks  and  drifts  of  snow.1 

Scarcely  was  Francis  back  at  Portiuncula  when  he  went 
out  at  once  on  a  missionary  trip.  It  seems  as  if  all  of  the 
zeal  of  his  youth  was  returned;  he  talked  anew  of  wanting 
to  do  great  things.2  For  a  while  it  seemed  to  him  that  it 
was  not  too  late  to  begin  all  over  again.  "I  will  go  to  the 
lepers  again  and  serve  them  and  be  despised  of  all  men," 
said  he.3  Riding  on  his  ass,  he  often  visited  in  one  day  four 
or  five  towns  and  preached  in  them ; 4  and  where  he  found 
lepers  he  waited  on  them.  The  story  in  the  Fioretti  certainly 
belongs  to  this  period,  which  tells  of  the  impatient  leper 
patient  whom  the  Brothers  who  took  care  of  him  could 
in  no  way  please,  but  he  abused  them  with  word  and  blow, 
and  reviled  and  abused  God  and  all  the  saints,  so  that  none 
could  bear  to  listen  to  him. 

"But  St.  Francis  himself  approached  this  abandoned  leper 
and  greeted  him  and  said,  '  God  give  thee  peace,  dear  brother ! ' 
But  the  leper  answered,  'What  peace  can  I  have  when  God 
has  taken  everything  from  me  and  has  made  me  all  decayed 
and  malodorous?  And  even  then  I  would  not  complain  of 
my  disease,  but  the  Brothers  thou  hast  given  me  to  wait 
upon  and  look  after  me  do  not  do  it  as  they  ought! ' 

"Then  Francis  said,  'Son,  since  thou  art  not  contented 
with  the  others,  shall  I  take  care  of  thee?'  'I  would  like 
that,'  answered  the  sick  man;  'but  what  couldst  thou  do  for 
me  more  than  the  others?'     'I  will  do  all  thou  wishest,' 

1  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  c.  26.     Fior.,  4a  consid. 

*Cel.,  V.  pr.,  II,  c.  6:  "Proponebat,  Christo  duce,  ingentia  se  facturum." 

3  ditto,  "Volebat  ad  serviendum  leprosis  redire  denuo,  et  haberi  contemptui, 
sicut  aliquando  habebatur." 

4  Cel.,  V.  prima,  II,  c.  4:  "Replebat  omnem  terram  evangelio  Christi,  ita  ut 
una  die  quatuor  aut  quinque  castella  vel  etiam  civitates  saepius  circuiret." 
"Cum  per  se  ambulare  non  posset,  asello  vectus  circuiret  terras." 


THE  FAREWELL  TO  THE  BRETHREN  307 

answered  St.  Francis.  Then  the  leper  said,  'Then  I  want 
thee  to  wash  me  all  over,  for  the  odor  is  such  that  I  cannot 
stand  it.' 

"St.  Francis  thereupon  had  warm  water  with  many  aro- 
matic herbs  in  it  prepared;  he  undressed  the  sick  man  and 
began  to  wash  him  with  his  hands,  and  another  Brother 
helped.  And  by  a  miracle  from  God  it  came  to  pass  that 
where  St.  Francis  touched  him  with  his  blessed  hands  the 
leprosy  disappeared  and  the  flesh  became  entirely  well.  And 
as  the  flesh  began  to  be  cured,  the  soul  was  also  cured;  for 
when  the  leper  saw  that  he  was  well  he  was  overcome  by 
great  sorrow  and  emotion  over  his  sins  and  began  to  weep 
bitterly.  And  when  he  was  entirely  healed  in  soul  and  body, 
he  began  in  humility  to  accuse  himself  and  said,  weeping,  in 
a  loud  voice,  'Woe  to  me,  I  have  made  myself  worthy  of 
hell  by  the  injustice  I  have  done  the  Brothers,  and  by  my 
impatience  and  blasphemy ! ' 

"But  St.  Francis  thanked  God  for  so  great  a  miracle  and 
went  away  to  distant  regions,  for  from  humility  he  wished 
to  flee  from  all  honor  and  sought  in  all  things  only  God's 
honor  and  glory  and  never  his  own."  1 

1  Fior.,  c.  25.  On  the  relation  between  Francis  and  the  lepers  see  also 
Speculum  perfedionis,  cc.  44  and  58,  with  the  numerous  parallel  citations  in 
Sabatier's  edition. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FRANCIS,   THE  LOVER  OF  NATURE 

THE  light  which  is  soon  to  go  out  flares  up  for  a  last 
time,  and  such  a  last  flaring  was  Francis'  new  zeal. 
The  spirit  indeed  was  willing,  but  as  he  sat  upon 
his  ass  he  seemed  more  a  dead  man  than  a  living 
one,  and  for  Brother  Elias,  who  for  a  time  was  with  Francis 
in  Foligno,  it  was  clear  that  the  master  had  only  a  couple 
of  years  to  live.1  The  eye  sickness  he  had  brought  from 
Egypt,  and  which  he  had  never  attended  to,  now  got  the 
mastery,  and  not  only  Elias,  but  also  others  of  the  Brothers, 
begged  him  to  try  medical  aid. 

This  did  not  accord  with  Francis'  ideas.  In  one  of  his 
Admonitiones  he  himself  had  advised  his  sick  Brothers  not 
to  strive  too  eagerly  for  a  cure,  but  to  thank  God  for  every- 
thing and  not  wish  to  have  things  better  than  God  wanted 
them,  for  God  chastises  those  He  loves.2  Instead  of  con- 
sulting a  physician,  he  sought  solitude  again,  and  this  time 
it  was  to  San  Damiano  that  he  withdrew  himself.  In  the 
vicinity  of  the  Sisters'  convent  St.  Clara  had  placed  a  wattle 
hut,  in  which  Francis  could  live.3 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1225,  and  the  blinding  Italian  sun 
had  evidently  been  bad  for  Francis'  eyes.  For  a  time  he  was 
quite  blind  and  was  incidentally  plagued  by  a  swarm  of  field- 
mice,  who  probably  had  their  home  in  the  straw  walls  of  the 
hut,  and  who  eventually  ran  over  his  face,  so  that  he  had 
no  peace  by  day  or  night.  Apparently  never  before  had 
Francis  been  more  depressed  and  unfortunate.  And  yet  it 
was  precisely  in  this  wretched  sickness,  in  the  midst  of  the 

1  Cel.,  Vita  pr.,  II,  c.  8. 

2  Spec,  per/.,  c.  42.     Reg.  prima,  c.  10. 
8  Spec,  per/.,  c.  100.     Fior.,  c.  19. 

308 


FRANCIS,  THE  LOVER  OF  NATURE  309 

darkness  of  blindness  and  of  the  plague  of  mice,  that  he 
composed  his  wonderful  masterpiece,  Canticum  fratris  solis, 
the  Canticle  of  our  Brother  Sun. 

To  understand  the  Sun  Song  we  must  understand  Francis' 
relations  to  nature.  Nothing  would  be  more  unjust  than  to 
call  him  a  pantheist.  He  never  confounded  himself  or  God 
with  nature,  and  the  pantheist's  alternations  of  wild  orgies 
and  pessimistic  melancholy  was  quite  foreign  to  him.  Francis 
never,  like  Shelley,  wished  to  be  one  with  the  universe;  neither 
did  he,  with  Werther  or  Tourguenieff,  shudder  as  feeling  himself 
abandoned  to  the  blind  inevitableness  of  things  and  to  nature's 
"everlastingly  ruminating  monsters."  Francis'  standpoint 
as  to  the  conception  of  nature  is  entirely  and  only  the  first 
article  of  faith  —  he  believed  in  a  Father  who  was  also  a 
creator. 

And  out  of  this  common  relationship  with  the  one  and 
same  Father  he  saw  in  all  living  beings,  yes  in  all  that  is 
created,  only  brothers  and  sisters.  In  the  kingdom  of  the 
heavenly  Father  there  are  many  mansions,  but  only  one 
family.  This  thought  is  not  Greek  and  is  not  German,  but 
it  is  true  Hebraic  and  therefore  truly  Christian.  The  song 
of  praise  which  Ananias,  Azarias  and  Misael  sang  in  the 
fiery  furnace  of  the  Babylonian  tyrant,  and  which  has  gone 
down  to  the  Church,  as  it  were  an  inheritance  from  the  syna- 
gogue, contains  the  following: 

"  All  ye  works  of  the  Lord,  bless  the  Lord:  praise  and  exalt 
him  above  all  for  ever. 

O  ye  angels  of  the  Lord,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  heavens,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .   . 

O  all  ye  waters  that  are  above  the  heavens,  bless  the  Lord: 

O  all  ye  powers  of  the  Lord,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .   . 

O  ye  sun  and  moon,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .   . 

O  ye  stars  of  heaven,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  every  shower  and  dew,  bless  ye  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  all  ye  spirits  of  God,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  fire  and  heat,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  cold  and  heat,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  ice  and  snow,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .  . 

O  ye  nights  and  days,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 


310  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

O  ye  light  and  darkness,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .   . 

0  ye  lightnings  and  clouds,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .  . 

O  let  the  earth  bless  the  Lord;  let  it  praise  and  exalt  him 
above  all  for  ever. 

O  ye  mountains  and  hills,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  all  ye  things  that  spring  up  in  the  earth,  bless  the 
Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  fountains,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  seas  and  rivers,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .   . 

O  ye  whales,  and  all  that  move  in  the  waters,  bless  the 
Lord:  ... 

0  all  ye  fowls  of  the  air,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  all  ye  beasts  and  cattle,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  ye  sons  of  men,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

O  let  Israel  bless  the  Lord:  let  them  praise  and  exalt  him 
above  all  for  ever. 

O  ye  priests  of  the  Lord,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .  . 

O  ye  servants  of  the  Lord,  bless  the  Lord:  .   .  . 

O  ye  spirits  and  souls  of  the  just,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .  . 

0  ye  holy  and  humble  of  heart,  bless  the  Lord:  .  .   . 
Blessed  art  thou  in  the  firmament  of  heaven,  and  worthy 

of  praise  and  exalted  above  for  ever."  1 

There  is  no  tone  missing  in  this  symphony  of  all  creatures, 
where  all  sing  together  in  the  great  song  of  praise  from  cheru- 
bim to  atom.  Morning  after  morning,  year  after  year,  Francis, 
alone  or  with  the  Brothers,  had  sung  out  of  their  Breviaries 
daily  this  hymn  of  all  creatures  to  the  Creator.  The  poetry 
of  it  had  won  him  early;  in  12 13  he  raised  a  little  chapel 
between  S.  Gemini  and  Porcaria,  and  had  sentences  such  as 
these  painted  on  the  antependium  of  the  altar:  "AH  who 
fear  the  Lord,  praise  Him!  Praise  the  Lord,  heaven  and 
earth!  Praise  Him,  all  rivers!  All  creatures,  praise  the 
Lord!  All  birds  of  heaven,  praise  the  Lord!"2  Francis' 
preaching  to  the  birds  at  Bevagna  is  based  on  the  same 
ideas:  the  birds  are  obliged  to  praise  and  bless  their  good 
Creator,  who  has  cared  so  well  for  them;   for  all  beings  it  is 

1  Daniel  iii.  57-67,  70-87  and  56. 

2  Wadding,  1213,  n.  17.  The  church  in  the  custodianship  of  Todi  was 
called  L'Eremita,  according  to  Rudolph  of  Tossignano  there  cited. 


FRANCIS,  THE  LOVER  OF  NATURE  311 

undoubted  happiness  to  exist,  and  it  is  their  simple,  filial 
duty  to  thank  their  Father  for  life. 

Francis'  feelings  about  nature  gave  him  a  predilection  for 
all,  that  justified  such  an  optimism.  He  turned  with  special 
joy  to  all  the  lightsome,  beautiful  and  bright  in  his  surround- 
ings —  to  the  light  and  fire,  the  pure  running  water,  flowers 
and  birds.  This  feeling  about  nature  was  half  symbolic  — 
Francis  loved  the  water  because  it  symbolized  the  sacred 
penitence  by  which  the  soul  is  purified,  and  because  baptism 
is  effected  by  water.  Therefore  he  had  such  great  reverence 
for  water  that,  when  he  washed  his  hands,  he  turned  so  that 
the  drops  which  fell  could  not  be  trod  under  foot.  Over 
stones  and  rocky  ground  he  went  with  special  carefulness, 
while  he  thought  of  him  who  is  called  the  chief  corner-stone. 
The  Brother  who  cut  wood  in  the  forest  he  ordered  to  leave 
a  part  of  the  tree  standing,  so  that  there  might  be  some  hope 
of  its  putting  forth  branches  again  —  in  honor  of  the  Cross  of 
Christ.  He  had  the  gardener  arrange  a  bed  where  flowers 
would  grow  —  to  remind  the  Brothers  of  Him  who  is  the 
Lily  of  Sharon. 

But  he  possessed  an  entirely  direct  love  of  nature.  Fire 
and  light  seemed  to  him  so  beautiful  that  he  never  could 
endure  having  a  candle  extinguished  or  a  lamp  put  out. 
There  was  to  be  a  place  in  the  convent  garden,  not  only  for 
the  kitchen  vegetables,  but  also  for  the  sweet-smelling  herbs 
and  for  "our  brothers  the  Flowers,"  so  that  every  one  who 
observed  their  beauty  would  be  induced  to  praise  God.  He 
tenderly  bent  over  the  young  of  "our  brothers  the  Robins" 
in  Greccio,  and  in  Siena  built  nests  for  turtle-doves.  If  he 
saw  an  earthworm  lying  on  the  road  and  twisting  about 
helplessly,  he  would  take  it  up  and  carry  it  to  the  side,  so  that 
it  would  not  be  crushed.  In  winter  he  put  honey  into  the 
beehives  for  the  bees  to  feed  on. 

Every  being  was  for  Francis  a  direct  word  from  God.1 
Like  all  pious  souls  he  realized  in  the  highest  degree  the 
worth  of  all  things  and  had  reverence  for  them  as  for  some- 
thing  precious   and   holy.     He   understood    God's   presence 

1  "Omnis  enim  creatura  dicit  et  clamat:  Deus  me  fecit  propter  te,  homo." 
Spec,  per/.,  c.  118. 


312  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

among  his  creatures;  when  he  felt  the  immovable  firmness 
and  strength  of  the  cliffs  and  rocks,  he  directly  felt  that  God 
is  strong  and  is  to  be  trusted.  The  sight  of  a  flower  in  the 
silence  of  the  early  morning  or  of  the  mouth  of  a  little  bird 
confidently  opened  revealed  to  him  the  pure  beauty  of  God 
and  his  purity  and  the  endless  tenderness  of  the  Creator.1 

This  feeling  infused  Francis  with  a  constant  joy  in  God, 
an  uninterrupted  tendency  to  thankfulness.  In  these  thanks 
all  beings  were  to  participate  and  were  to  appear  to  have 
pleasure  therein.  "Our  Creator  be  praised,  Brother  Pheas- 
ant," thus  Francis  addressed  the  rare  bird,  which  a  well- 
wisher  had  sent  him,  and  the  pheasant  stayed  with  Francis 
and  did  not  want  to  be  with  anyone  else.  "Sing  the  praise 
of  God,  Sister  Cicada,"  he  exclaimed  under  the  olive  trees  at 
Portiuncula,  and  Sister  Cicada  sang  until  Francis  bade  it 
be  silent.  The  wild  animals  often  kept  him  company;  for 
example,  a  hare  on  an  island  in  Lake  Thrasimene,  a  wild 
rabbit  at  Greccio.  Near  Siena  he  was  surrounded  by  a 
flock  of  sheep;  the  gentle  animals  gathered  around  him  and 
bleated,  as  if  they  wanted  to  tell  him  something.  Sailing  on 
Lake  Rieti  he  was  presented  with  a  living  fish;  he  put  it 
into  the  water,  and  for  a  long  time  it  followed  the  boat.  A 
bird  which  was  captured  in  the  same  place  and  given  to  him 
would  not  leave  him  until  he  explicitly  commanded  it  to.2 

But  above  all  things  Francis  was  thankful  for  the  sun  — 
the  sun  and  fire. 

"In  the  morning,"  he  was  wont  to  say,  "  when  the  sun  rises, 
all  men  ought  to  praise  God,  who  created  it  for  our  use,  for 
all  things  are  made  visible  by  it.  But  in  the  evening,  when 
it  is  night,  all  men  ought  to  praise  God  for  Brother  Fire, 
which  gives  our  eyes  light  at  night.  For  we  are  all  like  the 
blind,  but  God  gives  our  eyes  light  by  means  of  these  two 
brothers."  3 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cc.  116,  118.  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  cc.  18,  124  (d'AL).  Actus, 
c.  24.  Fioretti,  c.  22.  Spec.  Perf.,  p.  232:  "nos  qui  cum  eo  fuimus,  in  tantum 
videbamus  ipsum  interius  et  exterius  laetari  quasi  in  omnibus  creaturis,  quod 
ipsas  tangendo  vel  videndo  non  in  terra,  sed  in  coelo  ejus  spiritus  videbatur." 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  cc.  126,  129-130.  Tract,  de  mirac,  IV,  23-31  (d'AL). 
Bonav.,  VIII,  7-10. 

3  Spec,  per/.,  c.  119. 


FRANCIS,  THE  LOVER  OF  NATURE  313 

The  Sun  Song  had  its  origin  in  this  idea.  In  his  hut 
in  San  Damiano  Francis  lay  like  a  blind  man  and  could 
endure  neither  sunshine  nor  the  light  of  a  fire.  And  one 
night  his  sufferings  were  so  great  that  he  called  out  to 
God,  "Lord,  help  me,  so  that  I  can  bear  my  sickness  with 
patience!" 

Then  in  spirit  it  was  answered  him:  "Behold  me,  Brother; 
would  you  not  be  very  glad  if  some  one  for  these  sufferings 
of  thine  gave  thee  so  great  a  treasure  that  the  whole  world 
in  comparison  therewith  is  worth  nothing?"  And  Francis 
answered,  "Yes."  But  the  voice  went  on,  "Then  be  glad, 
Francis,  and  sing  in  your  sickness  and  weakness,  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  belongeth  to  thee!" 

But  Francis  arose  early  the  next  morning  and  said  to  the 
Brothers  who  sat  about  him:  "If  the  Emperor  had  given  me 
the  whole  Roman  kingdom,  should  I  not  be  greatly  rejoiced? 
But  now  the  Lord,  even  while  I  am  living  here  below,  has 
promised  me  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  therefore  it  is 
proper  that  I  should  rejoice  in  my  trials  and  thank  God  the 
Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  And  therefore  I  will  in 
his  honor  and  for  your  comfort  and  the  edification  of  our 
neighbors  compose  a  new  song  of  praise  about  the  creatures 
of  the  Lord  whom  we  daily  make  use  of,  and  without  whom 
we  could  scarcely  live,  and  whom  we  nevertheless  so  often 
misuse  and  thereby  offend  the  Creator.  And  we  are  con- 
stantly ungrateful  and  do  not  think  of  the  grace  and  benefi- 
cence which  every  day  is  shown  us,  and  we  do  not  thank 
the  Lord,  our  Creator  and  the  Giver  of  all  good  things,  as  we 
ought  to  do." 

And  Francis  sat  down  and  thought.  A  moment  after  he 
broke  out  in  the  first  words  of  the  Sun  Song,  Altissimo, 
onnipotente,  bon  Signore,   " Highest,   almighty,  good  Lord!" 

But  when  the  song  was  composed  in  full,  his  heart  was  full 
of  comfort  and  joy.  And  he  wished  straightway  that  Brother 
Pacificus  should  take  some  other  Brothers  with  him  and  go 
out  into  the  world.  And  wherever  they  found  themselves 
they  were  to  stop  and  sing  the  new  song  of  praise,  and  then 
as  servants  of  God  they  should  ask  for  compensation  from 
their   hearers,  and  the   compensation   should  be   that  they 


314  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

who  listened  should  be  converted  and  become  good  Christians.1 
But  the  Sun  Song  itself  is  this:2 

Altissimo,  onnipotente  bon  signore, 

Tue  so  le  laude,  la  gloria,  el  honore  et  onne  benedictione. 

Ad  te  solo,  Altissimo,  se  konfano, 

et  nullu  homo  ene  dignu  te  mentouare. 

Laudato  sie,  Misignore,  cum  tucte  le  tue  creature, 

spetialmente  messor  lo  frate  sole, 

lo  quale  iorno  et  allumini  noi  per  loi. 

Et  ellu  e  bellu  e  radiante  cum  grande  splendore 

de  te,  Altissimo,  porta  significatione. 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  sora  luna  e  le  stelle 

in  celu  lai  formate  clarite  et  pretiose  et  belle. 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  frate  vento 

et  per  aere  et  nubilo  et  sereno  et  onne  tempo, 

per  lo  quale  a  le  tue  creature  dai  sustentamento. 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  sor  aqua, 

la  quale  e  molto  utile  et  humile  et  pretiosa  et  casta. 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  frate  focu, 

per  loquale  enallumini  la  nocte, 

ed  ello  e  bello  et  iocundo  et  robustoso  et  forte. 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  sora  nostra  matre  terra, 

la  quale  ne  sustenta  et  governa 

et  produce  diversi  fructi  con  coloriti  flori  et  herba. 

Laudate  et  benedicete  Misignore  et  rengratiate 

et  serviateli  cum  grande  humilitate. 

Most  high  omnipotent  good  Lord, 

Thine  are  the  praises,  the  glory,  the  honor,  and  all  benediction. 

To  thee  alone,  Most  High,  do  they  belong, 

And  no  man  is  worthy  to  mention  thee. 

Praised  be  thou,  my  Lord,  with  all  thy  creatures, 

Especially  the  honored  Brother  Sun, 

Who  makes  the  day  and  illumines  us  through  thee. 

And  he  is  beautiful  and  radiant  with  great  splendor 

Bears  the  signification  of  thee,  Most  High  One. 

Praised  be  thou,  my  Lord,  for  Sister  Moon  and  the  stars, 

Thou  hast  formed  them  in  heaven  clear  and  precious  and 

beautiful. 
Praised  be  thou,  my  Lord,  for  Brother  Wind, 
And  for  the  air  and  cloudy  and  clear  and  every  weather, 
By  which  thou  givest  sustenance  to  thy  creatures. 
Praised  be  thou,  my  Lord,  for  Sister  Water, 
Which  is  very  useful  and  humble  and  precious  and  chaste. 
Praised  be  thou,  my  Lord,  for  Brother  Fire, 

1  Spec,  perf.,  capp.  ioo,  119.     Actus,  c.  ax.     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  161  (d'Al.). 

2  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  1 20.  I  repeat  here  only  the  original  Sun  Song  (from  Bohmer, 
p.  65,  L.  23-31;  p.  66,  L.  1-13  and  24-25).  The  two  later  additions  will  be 
given  further  on. 


FRANCIS,     THE     LOVER     OF    NATURE     315 

By  whom  thou  lightest  the  night, 

And  he  is  beautiful  and  jocund  and  robust  and  strong. 

Praised  be  thou,  my  Lord,  for  our  sister  Mother  Earth, 

Who  sustains  and  governs  us, 

And  produces  various  fruits  with  colored  flowers  and  herbage. 

Praise  and  bless  my  Lord  and  give  him  thanks 

And  serve  him  with  great  humility. 


CHAPTER  VII 
FRANCIS'  LAST  TESTAMENT,  ILLNESS  AND  DEATH 

IN  the  end  of  April,  1225,  an  uprising  in  Rome  had  forced 
Honorius  III  to  leave  the  city,  and  after  a  short  stay 
in  Tivoli  he  transferred  his  residence  to  Rieti,  where 
he  remained  until  the  beginning  of  1226.1  More 
urgently  than  ever  Brother  Elias  begged  Francis  to  go  to  the 
Papal  Court,  in  which  request  he  was  supported  by  Cardinal 
Hugolin,  to  have  his  eyes  treated  by  the  skilful  physicians 
who  were  there.2  At  last,  in  the  summer  of  1225,  Francis 
left  San  Damiano  and  said  farewell  to  Clara  and  the  Sisters. 
It  may  have  been  on  this  occasion  that  he  left  them  his 
last  will  in  the  following  form  : 

"I,  Brother  Francis,  wish  to  follow  after  the  life  and  poverty 
of  our  highest  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  His  most  holy 
Mother,  and  I  will  hold  out  in  this  to  the  last.  And  I  pray 
you,  my  ladies,  and  counsel  you,  that  you  always  remain  in 
this  holiest  way  and  in  poverty.  And  be  very  careful  that 
you  do  not  in  any  way  give  up  this  way  of  life  on  anyone's 
advice  or  teaching."  3 

This  time  Francis  must  have  travelled  on  foot;  while  he 
was  at  San  Damiano  Clara  had  prepared  a  pair  of  shoes  for 
him  such  that  he,  notwithstanding  the  stigmata,  could  man- 
age to  walk.  From  Terni  he  followed  the  old  road  through 
the  valley,  a  way  well  known  and  dear  to  him.  Between 
Poggio  Bustone  and  Rieti  he  stopped  with  the  priest  of  the 
little  church  of  San  Fabiano  (now  the  convent  of  La  Foresta), 
and  as  soon  as  the  news  of  his  arrival  had  been  told  in  the 

1Potth.,  I,  n.  7401-n.  7526. 

2  CeL,  Vita  pr.,  II,  cc.  IV-V.  Actus,  c.  21.  Fior.,  c.  19.  Compare  A.  Bour- 
net:  S.  Francois  df  Assise,  etude  sociale  et  medicale  (Paris,  s.a.),  pp.  118-123. 

3  Textus  originates,  p.  63:  "paulo  ante  obitum  suum  iterum  scripsit  nobis 
ultimam  voluntatem  suam,  dicens:  Ego  frater  Franciscus,"  etc. 

316 


LAST     TESTAMENT  317 

town,  people  came  out  in  great  crowds  to  see  him.  Now 
unfortunately  the  road  to  the  house  where  Francis  was 
stopping  ran  through  the  priest's  little  vineyard,  and  the 
crowds  from  the  town  slaked  their  thirst  by  eating  the  poor 
priest's  ripe  grapes,  with  the  usual  disregard  to  be  expected 
on  such  occasions.  The  priest  saw  this  pillaging  only  with 
sorrow  and  finally  complained  to  Francis.  "The  vineyard 
always  gave  me  thirteen  kegs  of  wine,"  he  said  sadly,  "and 
that  was  all  I  used  in  the  whole  year."  Francis  comforted 
him  and  promised  him  that  this  season  too  he  would  have  his 
wine,  and  in  fact  it  is  told  that  the  vines  this  year  bore  more 
profusely  than  before,  so  that  the  priest  in  the  end  got  twenty 
kegs  out  of  them.1 

After  this  Francis  stayed  a  short  time  in  Rieti,  in  the  house 
of  Thedaldo  the  Saracen,  according  to  what  Wadding  says.2 
It  was  here  that  Francis  one  evening  called  Brother  Pacificus 
and  told  him  to  borrow  a  cithern  and  sing  the  Sun  Song  to 
its  accompaniment.  Pacificus  was,  however,  afraid  of  arous- 
ing a  disturbance  in  the  house  with  his  song  and  playing  and 
said  so.  "Then  we  will  let  the  thought  go,"  said  Francis; 
"one  must  give  up  much  to  avoid  irritating  one's  weak 
brother!" 

The  following  night  Francis  lay  awake  and  could  not 
sleep  for  pain.  Outside  he  heard  the  last  belated  wanderers 
going  home;  finally  all  was  still,  only  the  church  bell  from 
time  to  time  sounded  through  the  night.  Then  Francis 
heard  outside  his  window  the  soft  vibrations  of  a  cithern's 
strings,  and  some  one  began  to  play  outside.  The  playing 
lasted  a  long,  long  time  —  now  quite  near,  now  a  little  distant, 
as  if  the  player  was  going  back  and  forth  under  the  window. 
Enraptured,  carried  away,  overcome  by  the  music,  which 
continued  to  stream  out  upon  the  still,  hot  autumn  night, 
Francis  lay  there  and  listened,  and  when  morning  came  he 
said  to  Brother  Pacificus:  "The  Lord  did  not  forget  me  this 
time  either,  but  comforted  me,  as  He  always  does.  Instead 
of  thee,  he  sent  me  an  angel,  who  has  played  for  me  all  night."3 

1  Spec,  perf.,  c.  104.    Actus,  c.  21.     Fioretti,  c.  19. 

2  1225,  n.  a  (Mariano  is  the  authority). 

3  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  89  (d'Al.).    Bonav.,  V,  11. 


318  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

It  was  only  when  winter  came  that  Francis  left  Rieti,  going 
to  the  hermitage  of  S.  Eleutherio,  where,  in  spite  of  his  illness 
and  of  the  severe  cold  which  prevailed,  he  would  not  consent 
to  have  his  habit  lined  with  fur.1  Probably  about  Christmas 
time  he  went  to  Fonte  Colombo. 

Meanwhile  the  Papal  physicians  had  tried  every  conceiv- 
able remedy  upon  him  —  bindings,  salves  and  plasters  —  and 
nothing  did  any  good.  They  had  also  tried  to  reform  his 
whole  way  of  living,  and  in  this  they  succeeded  to  some 
extent.  "Has  not  thy  body  all  through  thy  life  been  a  good 
and  willing  servant  and  ally?"  they  asked  Francis,  and  he 
could  not  avoid  giving  "Brother  Ass"  a  good  character. 
"Then  how  hast  thou  treated  it  in  return?"  was  the  further 
question,  and  Francis  had  to  acknowledge  that  his  treatment 
had  not  been  the  best.  Smitten  with  sorrow,  he  entered  into 
himself  and  exclaimed,  "Rejoice,  Brother  Body,  and  forgive 
me;  now  I  am  ready  to  humor  you  in  your  wishes! "  2  As  in 
so  many  cases  of  repentance,  this  also  came  too  late. 

The  physicians  decided  to  adopt  heroic  measures  and  under- 
took the  application  of  red-hot  irons  to  both  temples.  Accord- 
ing to  the  views  of  the  time  such  treatment  should  be  very 
efficacious;  it  was  used  among  other  cases  for  hydrophobia.3 
When  the  physician  and  his  assistant  approached  Francis 
with  the  brazier,  in  which  the  glowing  irons  lay,  Francis  made 
the  sign  of  the  Cross  over  them  and  said:  "Brother  Fire, 
thou  who  art  nobler  and  more  useful  than  most  other  crea- 
tures! I  have  always  been  good  to  thee  and  always  will  be 
so  for  love  of  him  who  has  created  thee!  Now  show  thyself 
gentle  and  courteous  to  me  and  do  not  burn  me  more  than 
I  can  stand!" 

The  physician  started  the  burning,  and  all  the  Brothers 
fled  when  they  heard  the  flesh  hiss  under  the  iron.  Francis 
only  said,  when  it  was  over,  "If  that  is  not  enough  burning, 
then  burn  it  again,  for  I  have  not  felt  the  least  pain!"  4 

This  physician  seems  to  have  formed  a  real  friendship  with 

1  Spec,  perf.,  c.  16. 

2  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  160  (d'Al.). 

3  Bournet,  I.e.,  p.  122. 

*Spec.  perf.,  c.  115.     Cel.,  V.  sec.,  II,  c.  125  (d'Al.). 


LAST     TESTAMENT 


319 


Francis.  He  often  and  willingly  talked  with  the  Brothers 
about  their  wonderful  master.  "It  is  singular,"  he  once 
said;  "I  can  remember  well  the  sermons  of  others,  but  never 
the  sermons  of  Francis.  And  even  if  I  do  remember  something 
of  them,  it  nevertheless  is  no  longer  itl"  x 

Once,  when  the  consultation  was  lasting  a  long  time, 
Francis  wished  to  keep  the  physician  to  dinner.  The  Brothers 
said  meanwhile  that  they  did  not  have  enough  for  them- 
selves, and  certainly  not  enough  to  offer  a  stranger.  "Go 
and  set  out  what  we  have,"  ordered  Francis,  "and  do  not  let 
me  have  to  say  it  twice!"  And  hardly  had  they  sat  down  at 
the  table  when  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door  and  a  woman 
stood  outside  with  a  basket  filled  with  the  best  food  —  fine 
bread,  fish,  pies,  honey  and  grapes.2 

It  was  probably  on  the  suggestion  of  the  same  physician 
that  Francis  later  in  the  winter  changed  the  bleak  Fonte 
Colombo  for  Siena,  already  in  the  Middle  Ages  renowned 
for  its  mild  air.  It  was  on  the  way  thither  that  Francis  and 
the  Brothers,  on  the  plain  between  San  Quirico  and  Carrpilia, 
met  three  women,  who  all  looked  exactly  alike,  and  who  as 
the  little  group  went  by  bowed  the  heads  in  greeting  and  in 
one  voice  said,  "Hail  to  thee,  Lady  Poverty!"  This  meeting 
and  this  remarkable  greeting  for  a  long  time  occupied  Francis' 
and  the  Brothers'  minds. 3 

The  treatment  in  Siena  did  no  more  good  than  that  in 
Rieti,  but  the  stay  seems  to  have  benefited  Francis.  He 
lived  in  the  hermitage  of  Alberino  (now  Ravacciano,  a  little 
north  of  Siena),  and  it  was  here  that  he  one  day,  among 
others,  received  a  visit  from  a  Dominican  who,  perhaps 
not  without  reference  to  Francis'  own  condition,  asked  for 
an  interpretation  of  the  words  of  Ezechiel,  If  thou  dost  not 
announce  to  the  ungodly  his  impiety,  "I  will  require  his  blood 
at  thy  hand."  4  "For  I  know  many  who  live  in  mortal  sin," 
declared  the  troubled  Dominican,  "and  I  say  not  this  to  them. 
Shall  all  these  souls  be  required  of  me?  "    Francis  answered,  in 

1  CeL,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  73  (d'Al.). 

2  ibid.,  c.  15. 

3  CeL,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  60  (d'Al.).     Bonav.,  VII,  6. 
4Ezech.  iii.  18. 


320  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

his  usual  way  of  thought,  that  a  life  of  goodness  was  the  best 
sermon  for  the  wicked,  and  that  God's  message  to  the  prophet 
was  most  completely  corresponded  to  by  such  an  example.1 

The  question  of  the  Dominican  had  made  more  impression 
upon  Francis  than  he  wished  to  acknowledge.  One  night  he 
awakened  the  Brothers  and  said  to  them :  "I  have  begged  God 
to  say  to  me,  when  I  am  his  servant  and  when  not,  for  I  neither 
wish  nor  desire  anything  else  than  truly  to  serve  him.  And 
the  Lord  has  shown  me  grace  and  answered  me:  'Thou  art 
really  and  truly  my  servant,  when  thou  thinkest,  speakest 
and  doest  all,  as  it  is  becoming!'  Therefore  you  have  per- 
mission to  despise  me,  if  I  do  not  do  that."  2 

In  accordance  with  this  was  the  incident,  when  in  Siena  he 
inculcated  anew  the  Brothers'  obligation  of  poverty.  A  cer- 
tain "Sir  Bonaventure"  had  presented  a  piece  of  ground  for 
a  new  convent;  Francis  gave  the  following  rules  for  its  erection: 

The  Brothers  must  for  the  present  accept  no  more  land  than 
what  is  strictly  necessary.  Next  they  must  not  build  without 
the  permission  of  the  local  Bishop  —  "for  the  Lord  has  called 
us  to  the  help  of  the  priests  of  the  Roman  Church"  and  not 
to  work  in  opposition  to  them.  Francis  had  himself  given 
the  best  example  of  this,  when  in  Imola  he  let  himself  be 
turned  away  by  the  Bishop,  whom  he  asked  for  permission  to 
preach  in  the  city,  but  who  answered  him,  "Brother!  It  is 
enough  when  I  preach!" 

After  they  had  got  the  permission  of  the  clerical  authorities, 
the  Brothers  were  to  dig  a  deep  ditch  around  their  ground  and 
to  plant  a  good  hedge  behind  the  ditch,  but  they  were  to 
build  no  wall.  In  front  of  the  hedge  the  cells  were  to  be  built 
of  mud  and  wattles,  and  there  was  to  be  no  large  church,  but 
only  a  poor  little  chapel.3 

The  improvement  which  was  apparent  in  Francis'  health 
was  of  no  duration.  One  night  he  had  bad  haemorrhages, 
and  the  Brothers  thought  he  was  going  to  die.     Weeping 

1  Spec,  perf.,  c.  53.  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  69  (d'Al.).  As  early  as  1225  the 
Dominicans  had  a  convent  and  church,  S.  Domenico,  in  Siena. 

2  Spec,  perf.,  c.  74.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  118. 

3  Spec  perf.,  c.  10.  The  convent  of  S.  Francesco,  erected  in  Siena  in  1236, 
does  not  correspond  with  this  description.  —  For  the  Bishop  of  Imola,  see  Cel., 
V.  sec,  II,  c.  108  (d'Al.). 


LAST     TESTAMENT  321 

they  knelt  around  his  bed  and  begged  for  his  last  blessing. 
As  soon  as  Francis  came  back  to  his  senses  he  ordered  his 
mass-priest,  Brother  Benedict  of  Prato,  to  bring  parchment, 
pen  and  ink.  "  Write,"  he  then  said,  "that  I  bless  all  my 
Brethren  who  are  in  the  Order,  or  who  are  going  to  enter  it, 
from  now  until  the  end  of  the  world.  And  as  a  sign  that 
they  have  received  this  my  blessing,  and  for  memory  of  me, 
I  leave  them  this  testament,  that  they  ought  always  to  love 
each  other,  as  I  have  loved  them  and  still  love  them;  that 
they  should  always  love  and  honor  our  Lady  Poverty;  that 
they  should  always  be  true  and  obedient  to  the  clerks  and 
prelates  of  our  holy  Mother  Church."  After  having  dictated 
these  words,  Francis  blessed  them  all,  "as  he  had  been  wont 
to  do  at  the  Chapter  Meetings"  many  of  the  Brothers  thought, 
and  as  they  again  burst  forth  in  sobs,  he  wearily  closed  his 
eyes.1 

The  end  was  not  yet  —  six  months  were  to  pass  before 
Francis  in  earnest  could  bid  " Sister  Death"  welcome.  For 
the  present  he  had  enough  to  do  with  "  Sister  Sickness."  2  By 
Brother  Elias'  arrangement  he  was  transported  to  Celle  near 
Cortona;  here  a  dropsy  was  added  to  his  troubles  so  that  his 
underbody,  legs  and  feet  swelled  up.  The  stomach  could 
retain  no  more  food;  then  came  severe  pains  in  spleen  and 
liver.3  Francis  had  only  the  one  wish,  to  see  Assisi  again 
before  he  died,  and  in  this  Elias  complied  with  his  desire.  For 
fear  that  the  inhabitants  of  Perugia  should  by  an  actual  attack 
get  possession  of  the  sick  man  (and  thereby  of  the  true  saint 
all  saw  in  Francis),  Elias  transported  home  by  a  circuitous 
route  the  body  of  his  master,  that  already  in  full  life  was  a 
relic  to  be  striven  for.  By  Gubbio  and  Nocera  they  approached 
the  place,  not  far  from  Bagni  di  Nocera,  where  now  the  con- 
vent of  VEremita  stands;  here  they  were  joined  by  a  body  of 
armed  men  sent  from  Assisi  to  meet  them  and  to  guard  them 
for  the  rest  of  the  way.  At  midday  of  the  same  day  they 
entered  the  territory  of  Assisi  and  stopped  in  the  village  of 
Satriano  (now  a  lonesome  village  below  Sasso  Rosso,  very 

1  Spec.  Perf.,  c.  87.     Compare  Celano,  Vita  prima,  II,  c.  VII,  n.  105. 
2Cel.,  Vita  sec.,  II,  c.  161  (d'Al.).     Bonav.,  XIV,  2. 
3  Cel.,  V.  prima,  I.e.    Spec.,  p.  183  (ed.  Sab.). 
22 


322  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

near  to  Babbiano).  Francis  was  here  received  as  a  guest 
in  a  private  house;  the  soldiers  meanwhile  wished  to  go  into 
the  village  and  buy  food  for  themselves.  No  one  would  sell 
them  anything,  and  sullen  and  hungry  they  returned.  "  Yes, 
this  is  what  you  get,  when  you  depend  upon  your  useless 
money  (muscae,  lit.,  flies).  But  try  now  and  go  from  door  to 
door  and  beg  for  a  little  in  God's  name,  and  you  will  see 
that  you  will  get  what  you  need!"    This  proved  to  be  true.1 

Towards  evening  the  procession  entered  Assisi.  The 
invalid  was  brought  to  the  Bishop's  residence,  and  a  watch 
was  set  around  the  house  to  prevent  all  attempts  of  the 
Perugians  upon  the  saint  of  Assisi. 

If  the  churchly  and  civil  authorities  of  Assisi  were  thus 
united  when  it  came  to  the  question  of  securing  Francis' 
person,  there  were  other  topics  where  there  was  no  such 
unity  of  sentiment.  The  first  knowledge  Francis  acquired 
of  the  home  relations  was,  that  the  podesta  and  Bishop  were 
in  open  strife,  and  that  the  Bishop  had  placed  the  ban  upon 
the  podesta,  and  the  podesta  in  return  had  forbidden  all 
citizens  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  Bishop.  "It  is  a 
great  shame  for  us,  God's  servants,"  said  Francis  to  his 
Brothers,  "that  no  one  makes  peace  here!"  And  to  do  what 
he  could  he  composed  two  new  verses  for  his  Sun  Song,  and 
then  sent  a  messenger  to  the  podesta  to  come  to  the  Bishop's 
residence,  and  one  to  the  Bishop  to  meet  him.  The  summoned 
ones  came  and  gathered  together  on  the  Piazza  del  Vescovado 
—  the  same  place  where,  nineteen  years  before,  Francis  had 
given  back  his  clothes  to  his  father.  And  when  all  were  there, 
two  Friars  Minor  stepped  out  and  sang  the  first  Sun  Song,  as 
Francis  had  originally  written  it,  and  then  the  new  verses: 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  quelli  ke  perdonano  per  lo  tuo  amore 
et  sostengo  infirmitate  et  tribulatione, 
beati  quelli  kel  sosterrano  in  pace, 
ka  da  te,  Altissimo,  sirano  incoronati. 

"Praised  be  thou,  O  Lord,  for  those  who  give  pardon  for  thy  love 
and  endure  infirmity  and  tribulation, 
blessed  those,  who  endure  in  peace, 
who  will  be,  Most  High,  crowned  by  theef" 

1  Spec,  perf.,  c.  22.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  47  (d'Al.). 


FRANCIS'     LAST     TESTAMENT  323 

Whilst  the  two  Brothers  sang,  all  stood  with  folded  hands, 
as  if  the  Gospel  was  being  read  in  church.  But  when  the 
song  was  ended,  and  the  last  Laudato  si  Misignore  had  ceased 
to  be  heard,  the  podesta  made  a  step  forward,  cast  himself 
down  before  Bishop  Guido  and  said:  "Out  of  love  to  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  and  to  his  servant  Francis  I  forgive  you  from  my 
heart  and  am  ready  to  do  your  will,  as  it  may  seem  good  to 
you!" 

But  the  Bishop  leaned  over  and  drew  up  his  enemy,  embraced 
him  and  kissed  him  and  said:  "On  account  of  my  office  I 
should  be  humble  and  peaceful.  But  I  am  by  nature  inclined 
to  anger,  and  thou  must  therefore  be  indulgent  with  me." 

But  the  Brothers  went  in  and  told  Francis  of  the  victory  he 
had  won  over  the  evil  spirits  of  dissension  with  his  song.1 

By  this  time  the  invalid  could  not  but  realize  that  he  had 
but  little  time  left.  One  day  he  asked  the  physician  who 
attended  him,  a  native  of  Arezzo  named  Bongiovanni,  for 
the  exact  truth.2  "With  God's  help  things  can  go  much 
better,"  was  the  evasive  answer.  "Tell  me  the  truth,  Bem- 
begnato!"  said  Francis,  who  used  to  call  the  physician  by  this 
name,  because  the  use  of  his  real  name  "Good  John"  seemed 
to  him  in  conflict  with  the  words  of  the  gospel,  that  "One 
is  good,  God"  (Matthew,  xix.  17).  On  similar  grounds 
Francis  would  call  no  one  master,  so  as  not  to  be  in  conflict 
with  the  citation  in  Matthew,  xxiii.  10. 

When  the  physician  realized  that  it  was  the  truth  that  had 
to  be  told  to  Francis,  he  answered  without  reservation:  "I 
consider  that  thou  still  canst  live  till  the  last  of  September  or 
the  beginning  of  October!"  Francis  was  silent  for  a  moment 
—  then  he  stretched  his  hands  upward  and  cried  out,  "Then 
be  welcome,  Sister  Death!"  And  as  if  by  these  words  he  had 
opened  up  again  the  fount  of  poetry  in  his  soul,  he  added  to 
his  Sun  Song  these  last  verses: 

Laudato  si,  Misignore,  per  sora  nostra  morte  corporale, 
da  la  quale  nullu  homo  vivente  po  skappare. 
Guai  acquelli  ke  morrano  ne  le  peccata  mortafi. 
Beati  quelli  ke  trovarane  le  tue  sanctissime  voluntati, 
ka  la  morte  secunda  nol  farra  male. 

1  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  101. 

2  Concerning  this  physician  see  Bournet,  I.e.,  p.  125,  n.  2. 


324  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

"  Praised  be  thou,  0  Lord,  for  our  Sister  Bodily  Death, 
from  whom  no  living  man  can  escape. 
Woe  to  those  who  die  in  mortal  sin. 
Blessed  those  who  have  discovered  thy  most  holy  will, 
for  to  them  the  second  death  can  do  no  harm!"1 

From  this  moment  Francis  wanted  Brother  Angelo  and 
Brother  Leo  to  be  always  with  him,  in  order  to  sing  to  him 
about  Sister  Death,  when  he  would  desire  it.  And  now  it 
was  in  vain  that  Brother  Elias  came  and  warned  him  not  to 
give  scandal  by  the  constant  singing  —  "  there  is  a  watch 
set  below,  and  they  do  not  think  that  thou  art  a  holy  man, 
when  they  hear  singing  and  playing  always  in  thy  cell!" 
Francis  had  now  for  a  long  enough  period  submitted  and 
yielded;  now  when  he  was  about  to  die,  he  wanted  at  least 
to  have  leave  to  die  in  his  own  way.  "By  the  grace  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  said  he,  "I  am  so  completely  united  with  my 
Lord  and  God,  that  I  may  well  be  allowed  to  be  glad  and 
rejoice  in  him!"  2 

But  it  was  not  only  a  time  for  singing  —  it  was  also  time  for 
Francis  to  put  his  house  in  order.  In  the  last  weeks  his 
thoughts  flew  constantly  to  two  places  —  to  the  faithful 
Brothers  in  La  Verna  and  in  Rieti,  at  Portiuncula  and  Carceri, 
and  to  Clara  and  her  Sisters  in  San  Damiano. 

The  road  from  the  episcopal  residence  in  Assisi  down  to 
San  Damiano  is  not  long,  yet  Francis  had  trod  it  for  the  last 
time.  It  was  in  vain  that  Clara  sent  messengers  to  him  and 
told  him  to  come,  so  that  she  could  bid  him  farewell  —  it  was 
no  longer  possible.  He  had  to  be  satisfied  to  send  her  his  last 
blessing  in  writing.  "Say  to  Sister  Clara,"  he  said  to  the 
Brethren  who  were  to  go  with  the  letter,  "that  I  absolve  her 
for  every  transgression  of  the  commands  of  the  Son  of  God  or 
of  mine,  which  she  may  have  been  guilty  of,  and  that  she  now 
must  put  aside  all  care  and  tribulation,  for  now  she  cannot 
get  to  see  me,  but  before  she  dies,  both  she  and  her  Sisters 
shall  see  me  and  have  great  comfort  therefrom."  3  Probably 
Francis   had    himself    arranged  that    his    body  —  as  it  did 

1  Spec,  perf.,  capp.  122-123.     Compare  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  163  (d'Al.). 

2  Spec,  perf.,  cap.  121.     Actus,  c.  18. 

3  Spec,  perf.,  c.  108,  c.  90. 


FRANCIS        LAST     TESTAMENT  325 

happen  —  was  to  be  taken  up  to  San  Damiano  after  his 
death. 

All  that  remained  was  to  leave  a  word  of  farewell  to  the 
Brethren.  And  this  the  Testament  did  —  that  remarkable 
document  in  which  Francis  from  his  death-bed  looks  back 
over  his  life,  with  melancholy  and  joy  dwelling  on  the  first 
hours  of  his  conversion's  dawn,  while  he  also  thought  with 
sadness  of  what  the  coming  years  were  to  bring  his  faithful 
disciples.  Once  again  he  collects  here  in  short,  impressive 
sentences  all  the  admonitions  from  the  General  Chapters  and 
from  letters. 

"  The  Lord  thus  gave  to  me,  Brother  Francis,  to  begin  to  do 
penance,  because  when  I  was  in  sin  it  appeared  too  bitter  to 
me  to  see  lepers;  and  the  Lord  himself  led  me  among  them, 
and  gave  me  pity  for  them.  And  leaving  them,  that  which 
seemed  to  me  bitter  was  changed  for  me  into  sweetness  of 
soul  and  body.  And  afterwards  I  remained  a  little  and  left 
the  world.  And  the  Lord  gave  me  such  faith  in  churches 
that  I  would  simply  pray  and  say:  '  We  adore  thee,  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  here  and  in  all  thy  churches,  that  are  in  the 
whole  world,  and  we  bless  thee,  because  by  thy  holy  Cross 
thou  hast  redeemed  the  world.' 

"  Afterwards  the  Lord  gave  me  and  gives  me  still  such  faith 
in  priests  who  live  by  the  form  of  the  holy  Roman  Church  on 
account  of  their  holy  orders,  that,  if  they  should  do  persecution 
upon  me,  I  would  wish  to  have  recourse  to  them.  And  if 
I  would  have  as  much  wisdom  as  Solomon  had,  and  would 
find  the  very  poor  priests  of  this  world,  I  would  not  wish 
to  preach  without  their  desire  in  the  parishes  in  which  they 
live.  And  I  wish  to  fear,  love  and  honor  these  same  and  all 
others  as  my  lords;  and  I  wish  to  see  in  them  no  sin,  because 
I  see  the  Son  of  God  in  them,  and  they  are  my  lords.  And  I 
do  it  for  this,  because  I  see  nothing  bodily  in  this  world  of  the 
very  highest  Son  of  God  except  his  most  holy  body  and 
blood  which  they  receive  and  they  alone  administer  to  others. 
And  these  most  holy  mysteries  I  wish  above  all  things  to 
honor,  to  venerate  and  to  be  placed  in  precious  places.  The 
most  holy  names  and  his  written  words,  wherever  I  may 
have  found  them  in  improper  places,  I  wish  to  gather,  and  I 


326  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

ask  that  they  be  collected  and  be  placed  in  a  becoming  place. 
And  all  theologians  and  those  who  minister  the  most  holy 
divine  words  we  ought  to  honor  and  venerate  as  those  who 
minister  to  us  spirit  and  life. 

"  And  after  the  Lord  gave  me  some  Brothers,  no  one  showed 
me  what  I  ought  to  do;  but  the  Most  High  himself  revealed 
to  me  that  I  should  live  according  to  the  form  of  the  holy 
gospel.  And  I  had  it  written  in  a  few  words  and  simply; 
and  the  Lord  Pope  confirmed  it  for  me.  And  those  who  came 
to  receive  this  life  gave  all  they  had  to  the  poor,  and  were 
content  with  one  tunic,  patched  inside  and  out,  if  they  wished 
it,  with  a  girdle  and  breeches.  And  we  were  unwilling  to 
have  more. 

"  We  clerics  said  the  Office  like  other  clerics,  the  laymen  said 
the  Pater  noster;  and  we  remained  willingly  enough  in  the 
churches.  And  we  were  simple  and  subject  to  all.  And  I 
worked  with  my  hands  and  wish  to  work;  and  all  the  other 
Brothers  I  strongly  wish  that  they  may  work  at  labor  which 
is  of  honest  nature.  And  when  the  price  of  our  labor  is  not 
given  to  us,  we  return  to  the  table  of  the  Lord  in  seeking  alms 
from  door  to  door. 

"  The  Lord  revealed  to  me  a  salutation,  that  we  should  say: 
'The  Lord  give  thee  peace.'  Let  the  Brothers  beware,  that 
they  do  not  accept  on  any  account  churches,  poor  habitations 
and  all  other  things  which  are  built  for  them,  unless  they  are 
such  as  suits  holy  Poverty,  which  we  have  promised  in  the 
Rule,  always  living  here  as  strangers  and  pilgrims. 

"  I  make  it  a  firm  precept  of  obedience  for  all  the  Brothers, 
that  wherever  they  are  they  do  not  dare  to  seek  for  any 
letter  from  the  Roman  Curia  by  themselves  or  by  a  substi- 
tuted person,  neither  for  a  church  nor  for  another  place,  nor 
under  the  guise  of  preaching,  nor  for  the  persecution  of  their 
bodies,  but,  wherever  they  may  not  have  been  received,  let 
them  fly  into  another  land  to  do  penance  with  the  blessing 
of  God.  And  I  wish  firmly  to  obey  the  General  Minister  of 
this  Brotherhood  and  the  other  guardian,  whom  it  may  please 
him  to  give  me.  And  thus  I  wish  to  be  a  captive  in  his 
hands,  that  I  may  not  go  a  step  or  act  outside  of  obedience 
and  his  wish,  because  he  is  my  lord.     And  although  I  may 


FRANCIS       LAST    TESTAMENT  327 

be  simple  and  weak,  nevertheless  I  wish  to  have  a  cleric  who 
will  perform  the  Office  for  me  as  it  is  contained  in  the  Rule. 

"And  let  all  the  other  Brothers  be  obliged  thus  to  obey 
their  guardians  and  to  do  the  Office  according  to  the  Rule. 
And  those  who  may  have  been  found,  who  did  not  do  the 
Office  according  to  the  Rule,  and  wish  to  vary  in  other  ways, 
or  are  not  Catholics,  let  all  Brothers,  wherever  they  are,  be 
obliged  by  obedience,  that,  whenever  they  will  have  found 
any  of  these,  they  should  declare  to  the  nearer  guardian  of 
that  place,  where  they  may  have  found  him.1  And  the 
guardian  is  firmly  obliged  by  obedience  to  guard  him  strictly 
like  a  man  in  bonds  by  day  and  by  night,  so  that  he  cannot 
be  taken  out  of  his  hands  until  he  shall  in  his  own  person 
place  him  in  the  hands  of  his  own  minister.  And  the  min- 
ister is  firmly  obliged  by  obedience  to  send  him  by  such 
Brothers  who  will  guard  him  day  and  night  like  a  man  in 
bonds,  until  they  present  him  to  the  lord  of  Ostia,  who  is  the 
lord,  protector,  and  corrector  of  the  whole  Brotherhood. 

"And  let  not  the  Brothers  say:  'This  is  another  Rule;'  for 
this  is  a  remembrance,  an  admonition  and  an  exhortation,  and 
my  Testament,  which  I,  Brother  little  Francis,  make  for  you 
my  blessed  Brothers  for  this,  that  we  may  observe  in  a  more 
catholic  way  the  Rule  which  God  has  put  before  us.  And  the 
General  Minister  and  all  other  ministers  and  custodes,  let  them 
be  held  by  obedience  not  to  add  or  diminish  anything  in 
these  words.  And  let  them  always  have  this  writing  along 
with  them  together  with  the  Rule.  And  at  all  Chapters  they 
hold,  when  they  read  the  Rule,  let  them  read  these  words. 
And  I  make  it  a  firm  precept  of  obedience  for  all  my  clerical 
and  lay  Brothers,  that  they  do  not  apply  glosses  to  the  Rule 
nor  to  these  words  by  saying,  ( They  ought  to  be  understood 
thus' ;  but  as  the  Lord  gave  it  to  me  to  tell  and  write  the  Rule 
and  these  words  purely  and  simply,  so  are  you  to  understand 
simply  and  purely  and  observe  unto  the  end  with  holy  opera- 
tion. 

1  "proximiori  custodi  illius  loci,  ubi  ipsum  invenerint,  debeant  representare." 
The  affair  is  so  important,  that  the  Brothers  shall  not  keep  within  the  limits  of 
the  custodian,  but  seek  the  nearest  custodian,  whether  the  convent  is  in  his 
jurisdiction  or  not. 


328  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

"  And  whoever  will  have  observed  these  things  may  be  filled 
with  the  blessing  of  the  most  high  Father  in  Heaven,  and  on 
earth  be  filled  with  the  blessing  of  his  beloved  Son  with  the 
most  Holy  Ghost  the  Paraclete  and  with  all  virtues  of  the 
heavens  and  all  the  saints.  And  I,  Brother  Francis,  your 
little  one  and  servant,  as  far  as  I  can,  confirm  to  you  within 
and  without  this  most  holy  blessing.     Amen.1 " 

Francis  had  now  taken  care  of  the  future  as  well  as  he 
could.  In  the  Middle  Ages  even  a  Papal  bull  was  not  always 
certain  of  obedience,  and  Francis  perhaps  had  not  any  great 
confidence  in  the  obedience  which  the  Brethren  would  give 
to  his  last  will.  But  his  conscience  was  quiet  —  he  could 
do  no  more. 

With  a  touching  charity  he  continued  to  love  his  Brethren 
to  the  last.  Like  all  sick  people,  Francis  lying  prostrate  now 
had  one  desire  and  now  another.  Once  he  could  hardly  eat 
anything;  "but  if  I  had  a  little  fish,"  said  he,  "I  believe  I 
could  get  it  down."  Another  time  he  had  the  desire  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  for  some  leaves  of  parsley;  he  thought 
that  would  do  him  good.  It  was  only  unwillingly  that  the 
Brother  in  charge  went  to  do  what  seemed  to  him  useless 
work,  plucking  parsley  in  pitch  darkness.2  More  than  once 
Francis  must  have  seen  a  cloud  of  impatience  on  the  Brother's 
countenance,  and  eventually  as  he  lay  there  he  formed  scruples 
in  the  matter.  "Perhaps  I  lie  here,"  he  thought,  "and  am 
the  cause  of  my  Brother  sinning  by  anger.  It  might  be, 
that  if  they  did  not  have  me  to  look  after  they  could  pray 
much  more  and  live  in  a  more  regular  way."  Accordingly 
one  day  he  called  the  Brethren  to  his  bed  and  bade  them 
not  to  be  weary  of  all  the  inconvenience  he  occasioned  them; 
it  was  not  he  alone  in  his  person  whom  all  this  trouble  con- 
cerned, but  in  and  with  him  it  related  to  all  the  Order.  "And 
when  you  are  weary  of  me,  keep  always  before  your  eyes 
that  the  Lord  will  reward  you  for  all  that  you  do  for  me."  3 

To  occasion  the  Brothers  less  trouble  Francis  finally  decided 

l0puscula  (Quaracchi),  pp.  77-82.  "Analekten"  (Bohmer),  pp.  36-40. 
Speculum  perfectionis  (Sabatier),  pp.  309-313. 

2  The  fish,  Spec,  per).,  c.  in.    The  parsley,  Cel.,  V.  sec,  II,  c.  22  (d'Al.). 

3  Spec,  perf.,  c.  89. 


FRANCIS'     LAST     TESTAMENT  329 

to  have  himself  carried  down  to  Portiuncula.  Bishop  Guido 
was  away  —  gone  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Monte  Gargona,  perhaps 
as  a  penance  for  his  strife  with  the  podesta.1  And  the  citizens 
in  Assisi  did  not  oppose  the  move,  but  merely  let  the  guard 
accompany  the  party  to  Portiuncula.2 

Accompanied  by  a  great  crowd  of  men  the  Brothers  carried 
the  sick  man  out  of  the  city.  From  the  episcopal  residence 
the  party  went  through  la  Portaccia,  a  principal  gate  now 
walled  up,  between  Porta  Mojano  and  Porta  S.  Pietro.  By  a 
road  which  here  follows  the  city  wall,  S.  Sal va tore  delle  Pared 
is  reached,  the  leper  hospital  about  half-way  between  Assisi 
and  Portiuncula  (now  Casa  Gualdi).  As  this  place  so  memor- 
able in  the  story  of  Francis'  conversion  was  approached,  the 
invalid  asked  to  have  the  litter  set  down.  "And  so  turn  me 
with  my  face  to  Assisi,"  he  said. 

There  was  a  moment  of  deep  silence,  whilst  the  sick  man 
with  the  assistance  of  his  Brethren  was  raised  up.  Above  on 
the  mountain  side  lay  the  city  wall  of  Assisi  and  its  gates  and 
row  after  row  of  houses,  surrounding  the  towers  of  San  Rufino 
and  Santa  Maria  della  Minerva.  Over  the  city,  just  as  to-day, 
the  bare  cliff  of  Sasso  Rosso  hung  with  the  German  tower  on 
top.  Further  away  Monte  Subasio  was  blue  in  the  distance, 
where  Carceri  lay,  and  at  whose  feet  San  Damiano  hid  itself. 
And  between  Francis  and  the  city  was  the  great  plain  where, 
when  young,  he  had  taken  his  lonely  rides  and  dreamt  of 
doing  great  things.  From  this  land  and  this  city  he  had  set 
forth,  to  this  land  and  this  city  he  was  going  back  to  die. 

With  his  half-blind  eyes  Francis  stared  for  a  long  time  at 
the  town,  over  the  mountains,  over  the  plain.  Then  he 
slowly  lifted  his  hands  and  made  the  sign  of  the  Cross  over 
Assisi.  " Blessed  be  thou  of  the  Lord,"  he  cried,  "for  he  has 
chosen  thee  to  be  a  home  and  an  abode  for  all  those  who  in 
truth  will  glorify  him  and  give  honor  to  his  name!"3  Then 
he  dropped  back  upon  the  litter,  and  the  Brothers  carried  him 
on  to  Portiuncula. 

1  Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  166  (d'Al.).  The  Bishop  was  on  his  way  home  when 
Francis  died. 

2  This  follows  from  Celano's  Tractatus  de  miraculis,  IV,  n.  32:  "Custodes 
civitatis,  qui  sollicitis  vigiliis  custodiebant  locum." 

3  Actus,  c.  18.    Spec,  perf.,  c.  124. 


330  SAINT     FRANCIS     OF    ASSISI 

The  invalid  was  taken  into  a  hut  which  was  a  few  paces 
behind  Portiuncula  chapel.  Here  it  was  that  he  had  the 
comfort  of  receiving  a  visit  from  "Brother  Jacoba,"  Jacopa  de 
Settesoli.  Just  as  she  arrived  Francis  was  going  to  dictate 
a  letter  to  her  asking  her  to  come.  The  rumor  of  the  master's 
incurable  sickness  had  reached  Rome,  and  Lady  Jacopa 
brought  with  her  the  cowl  she  had  woven  for  him,  and  which 
was  to  be  his  shroud,  together  with  wax  candles  and  incense 
for  the  solemnities  of  the  interment.  No  woman  was  allowed 
to  enter  Portiuncula,  but  an  exception  was  made  for  "  Brother 
Jacoba."  With  tears  she  fell  upon  the  bed  of  the  beloved 
master  —  "like  Magdalen  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,"  the  Brothers 
whispered  to  each  other.  The  visit  enlivened  Francis,  and 
to  please  him  still  more  Jacopa  prepared  his  Roman  dainty, 
of  which  he  in  his  sickness  had  often  spoken  and  wanted  to 
have.  Not  only  did  Francis  eat  of  it,  but  Brother  Bernard  of 
Quintavalle  was  called  in  to  also  get  a  portion  of  the  unusual 
luxury.1 

Jacopa  de  Settesoli 's  visit  fell  in  the  last  week  that  Francis 
lived.2  The  Thursday  following,  which  was  the  first  of  October, 
he  collected  the  Brothers  about  him  and  blessed  each  one  of 
them.  With  special  love  he  placed  his  hand  on  the  head  of 
Bernard  of  Quintavalle.  "  Write,"  said  he  to  Brother  Leo, 
"that  I,  as  well  as  I  am  able,  wish  and  command  that  all 
Brothers  in  the  whole  Order  shall  honor  Bernard,  as  if  it 
were  myself,  for  he  was  the  first  who  came  to  me  and  gave  his 
goods  to  the  poor."  3 

Francis  then  gave  a  last  sermon  of  admonition  to  the 
Brothers,  pressed  it  upon  them  above  all  to  be  faithful  to 
poverty,  and  —  as  a  symbol  thereof  —  to  be  true  to  poor 
little  Portiuncula.     "If  they  drive  you  out  of  one  door,  then 


1  Spec,  perf.,  cc.  112, 107.  Actus,  c.  18.  Cel.,  Trac.  de  mirac,  VI,  nn.  37-38. 
Bernard  a  Bessa  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  1687.  Compare  Vita  Bernardi,  ditto, 
p.  42,  where  Bernard  is  brought  down  from  Assisi  on  this  occasion. 

2  Spec.  perf.  (Sab.),  P-  223. 

3  Spec,  perf.,  cc.  112,  107.  Actus,  c.  5  (Fioretti,  c.  6),  where  Brother  Elias 
is  blessed  by  Francis  with  the  left  hand  only,  while  Bernard  is  blessed  with  the 
right  and  is  also  made  General  of  the  Order.  Compare  Vita  Bernardi  in  Anal. 
Franc,  III,  p.  42.  In  Celano,  Vita  prima  (II,  c.  VII,  n.  108)  Elias  only  receives 
the  blessing;  in  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  162,  Francis  blesses  all,  incipiens  a  vicario  suo. 


FRANCIS       LAST    TESTAMENT  331 

go  in  the  other/'  said  he,  "for  here  is  God's  house  and  the 
gate  of  Heaven!"  He  blessed  finally  with  the  whole  of  his 
overflowing  heart,  not  only  the  absent  Brethren  but  also  all 
Brothers  who  should  ever  enter  the  Order  —  "I  bless  them," 
said  he,  "as  much  as  I  can  —  and  more  than  I  can."  Francis 
perhaps  never  said  anything  which  better  expresses  the  whole 
of  his  innermost  nature,  than  this  plusquam  possum.  The 
spirit  which  actuated  him  had  never  rested  before  it  had 
done  more  than  it  could.  And  now  at  the  end  it  gave  him 
no  rest.  After  he  had  blessed  his  disciples  he  had  himself 
completely  undressed  and  placed  on  the  bare  earth  in  the  hut. 
Lying  there  he  took  from  the  guardian  as  a  last  alms  the  cowl, 
in  which  he  was  to  die,  and  as  this  did  not  seem  poor  enough, 
he  had  a  rag  sewed  to  it.  In  the  same  way  he  received  a  pair 
of  breeches,  a  rope,  with  a  hat  he  wore  to  hide  the  scars  which 
always  showed  on  his  temples.  Thus  he  had  held  his  faith 
with  Lady  Poverty  to  the  last  and  could  die  without  owning 
more  upon  this  earth  than  he  had  owned  when  he  came 
into  it.1 

Exhausted,  Francis  fell  into  a  sleep,  but  early  on  Friday 
morning  he  awaked  with  great  pains.  The  Brothers  were 
constantly  gathered  about  him,  and  Francis'  love  to  them 
constantly  sought  some  new  outlet.  Thinking  it  was  still 
Thursday,  the  day  on  which  the  Lord  held  the  Last  Supper 
with  his  disciples,  he  had  them  bring  a  loaf  of  bread,  he 
blessed  it,  broke  it,  and  gave  them  all  bits  of  it.  "And  bring 
me  the  Holy  Scripture  and  read  the  Gospel  of  Maundy 
Thursday  to  me!"  said  he.  "To-day  is  not  Thursday,"  one 
told  him.  "I  thought  it  was  still  Thursday!"  he  answered. 
The  book  was  brought,  and  as  the  day  dawned  the  words  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  were  read  over  Francis'  death-bed  —  the 
words  in  which  were  summarized  all  his  life  and  learning: 

"Before  the  festival-day  of  the  pasch,  Jesus  knowing  that 
his  hour  was  come,  that  he  should  pass  out  of  this  world  to 
the  Father:  having  loved  his  own  who  were  in  the  world,  he 
loved  them  unto  the  end.  And  when  supper  was  done,  (the 
devil  having  now  put  into  the  heart  of  Judas  Iscariot,  the  son 

1  Cel.,  Vita  prima,  II,  c.  VII,  nn.  106,  108;  c.  VIII,  n.  109.  V.  sec,  II, 
c.  162,  nn.  214-215.    Spec,  perf.,  pp.  222  and  33.    Bonav.,  XIV,  nn.  3-4. 


332  SAINT    FRANCIS     OF     ASSISI 

of  Simon,  to  betray  him,)  knowing  that  the  Father  had  given 
him  all  things  into  his  hands,  and  that  he  came  from  God, 
and  goeth  to  God:  He  riseth  from  supper,  and  layeth  aside 
his  garments,  and  having  taken  a  towel  girded  himself. 
After  that  he  putteth  water  into  a  basin,  and  began  to  wash 
the  feet  of  the  disciples,  and  to  wipe  them  with  the  towel 
wherewith  he  was  girded.  He  cometh,  therefore,  to  Simon 
Peter,  and  Peter  saith  to  him:  Lord,  dost  thou  wash  my 
feet?  Jesus  answered  and  said  to  him:  What  I  do,  thou 
knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter.  Peter 
saith  to  him:  Thou  shalt  never  wash  my  feet.  Jesus 
answered  him:  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  shalt  have  no  part 
with  me.  Simon  Peter  saith  to  him:  Lord,  not  only  my 
feet,  but  also  my  hands,  and  my  head.  Jesus  saith  to  him: 
He  that  is  washed,  needeth  not  but  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is 
cleaned  wholly.  And  you  are  clean,  but  not  all.  For  he 
knew  who  he  was  that  would  betray  him;  therefore  he  said: 
You  are  not  all  clean.  Then  after  he  had  washed  their  feet, 
and  taken  his  garments,  being  sat  down  again,  he  said  to 
them:  Know  you  what  I  have  done  to  you?  You  call  me 
Master,  and  Lord;  and  you  say  well,  for  so  I  am.  If  then  I, 
being  your  Lord  and  Master,  have  washed  your  feet;  you 
also  ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  For  I  have  given  you 
an  example,  that  as  I  have  done  to  you,  so  you  do  also."  l 

During  the  days  Francis  still  lived,  none  of  the  Brothers 
left  his  bed-side.  Again  and  again  Angelo  and  Leo  had  to 
sing  the  Sun  Song  to  him  —  again  and  again  did  the  sick  one 
say  the  last  words:  " Praised  be  thou,  O  Lord,  for  Sister 
Death!"  Again  he  asked  his  guardian  to  have  his  clothes 
removed,  when  the  last  hour  would  come,  and  received  per- 
mission to  expire  lying  naked  on  the  earth. 

Friday  passed  and  Saturday  came  (October  3,  1226).  The 
physician  came,  and  Francis  greeted  him  with  the  question 
of  when  the  portals  to  the  everlasting  life  should  be  opened 
to  him.  He  required  of  the  Brothers  that  they  should  strew 
ashes  over  him  —  "soon  I  will  be  nothing  but  dust  and  ashes." 

Towards  evening  he  began  to  sing  with  unusual  strength. 
It  was  no  more  the  Sun  Song,  but  the  141st  Psalm  of  David, 

1  St.  John  xiii.  1-15.     Spec,  per/.,  cap.  88.     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  163  (d'Al.) 


LAST     TESTAMENT  333 

the  one  which  in  the  Vulgate  begins :  Voce  mea  ad  Dominum 
clamavi.  As  the  October  evening  fell  rapidly,  and  it  grew 
dark  in  the  little  hut  in  the  Portiuncula  woods,  Francis 
prayed  in  the  deep  stillness,  among  the  disciples  listening 
breathlessly: 

"I  cried  to  the  Lord  with  my  voice:  with  my  voice  I  made 
supplication  to  the  Lord. 

"In  his  sight  I  pour  out  my  prayer,  and  before  him  I  declare 
my  trouble : 

"When  my  spirit  failed  me,  then  thou  knewest  my  paths. 

"In  this  way  wherein  I  walked,  they  have  hidden  a  snare 
for  me. 

"I  looked  on  my  right  hand,  and  beheld:  and  there  was  no 
one  that  would  know  me. 

"Flight  hath  failed  me:  and  there  is  no  one  that  hath  regard 
to  my  soul. 

"I  cried  to  thee,  0  Lord;  I  said:  Thou  art  my  hope,  my 
portion  in  the  land  of  the  living. 

"Attend  to  my  supplication:  for  I  am  brought  very  low. 

"Deliver  me  from  my  persecutors;  for  they  are  stronger 
than  I. 

"Bring  my  soul  out  of  prison,  that  I  may  praise  thy  name: 
the  just  wait  for  me,  until  thou  reward  me." 

While  Francis  prayed  it  was  quite  dark  in  the  little  cell. 
And  as  his  voice  ceased  all  was  still  as  death  —  a  stillness 
which  this  voice  was  never  more  to  break.  Francis  of  Assisi 
had  closed  his  lips  for  ever;  he  went  into  eternity  singing.1 

But  as  a  last  greeting  to  the  departed  singer  of  God  at  this 
moment,  over  and  around  the  house  there  was  a  loud  and 
sudden  twittering  —  it  was  Francis'  good  friends  the  larks 
who  said  their  last  farewell.2 

1  "mortem  cantando  suscepit."     Cel.,  Vita  sec,  II,  c.  162  (d'Al.). 

2  Spec,  perf.,  c.  113.     Cel.,  Trac.  de  miraculis,  IV,  n.  32. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  END 

THE  first  who  was  admitted  to  see  Francis'  body  was 
Jacopa.  Weeping  she  fell  upon  the  master's  lifeless 
body  and  with  burning  tears  flowing,  kissed  over  and 
over  again  the  wounds  in  the  feet  and  hands  of  the 
dead  saint.  Together  with  the  Brothers  she  watched  through 
the  night  by  the  master's  bier,  and  when  Sunday  morning 
dawned  her  resolve  was  taken  —  she  would  not  leave  Assisi, 
but  would  spend  the  rest  of  her  life  in  the  places  where 
Francis  had  walked  and  worked.  Like  San  Damiano  her 
house  in  Assisi  became  a  meeting  place  for  the  faithful  disci- 
ples, and  many  alms  went  through  her  hands,  to  Brother  Leo, 
Brother  Giles  or  Brother  Rufino.  It  is  certainly  more  than 
a  suspicion,  when  Sabatier  says  that  she  closed  Brother  Leo's 
eyes;  he  died  full  of  years  about  1274.  She  lies  buried  in  the 
Franciscan  church  in  Assisi;  a  fresco  shows  her  in  the  habit 
of  a  tertiary  and  with  the  cowl  woven  for  Francis  over  her  arm ; 
the  inscription  reads:  Hie  requiescit  Jacoba  sancta  nobilisque 
Romana,  "Here  Jacoba  rests,  a  holy  and  noble  Roman."1 

Early  Sunday  morning  the  people  came  from  all  sides  to 
give  the  dead  saint  his  first  homage.  The  rumor  of  Francis' 
stigmata  flew  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  the  influx  of  those 
wishing  to  see  them  was  beyond  computation.  The  clergy 
came  in  solemn  procession  down  from  Assisi  to  take  the 
remains,  and  with  olive  boughs  and  lighted  candles  in  their 
hands,  with  sound  of  trumpet  and  hymns  of  jubilee,  the  line 
reached  up  to  the  city.     To  fulfil  the  promise  Francis  had 

1  Tract,  de  mirac,  VI,  n.  39.  See  also  E.  d'Alencon:  Frere  Jacqueline  (Paris, 
1899,  with  reproduction  of  the  fresco),  and  Sabatier  in  Spec,  perf.,  p.  85, 
and  pp.  273-277.  For  Jacoba  and  Brother  Giles  see  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  102, 
Actus,  c.  44. 

334 


THE     END  335 

made  Clara,  the  road  by  San  Damiano  was  taken,  and  with 
bitter  grief  and  lamentation  the  Sisters  here  said  their  last 
farewell  to  their  beloved  guide  and  teacher.1  Then  the  pro- 
cession went  to  the  church  of  San  Giorgio,  to  the  place  where 
now  is  the  church  of  Santa  Chiara,  and  there  the  lifeless 
body  of  St.  Francis  was  temporarily  laid,  until  on  May  25, 
1230,  it  was  removed  to  the  beautiful  church  of  St.  Francis 
built  by  Brother  Elias. 

None  of  the  old  chroniclers  tell  us  where  Jacopa  de  Settesoli 
remained  during  this  funeral  procession.  It  is  quite  improb- 
able that  she  as  a  woman  followed  in  the  procession  of  clericals, 
brothers  and  soldiers.  We  may  believe  that  she  stayed 
behind  in  Portiuncula.  When  the  great  procession  with  all 
its  splendor  and  chantings  had  disappeared  among  the  trees, 
she  may  have  again  stepped  within  the  hut  where  Francis 
lived  and  breathed  twenty-four  years  before.  And  the  grue- 
some emptiness  overcame  her  —  the  emptiness  which  every 
death  leaves  behind  it,  and  how  much  more  such  a  death! 
Only  now  could  she  fully  realize  what  she  had  lost,  and 
kneeling  in  the  little  Portiuncula  chapel  that  was  so  dark  and 
desolate  to  her,  she  thought  with  weeping  of  him  whose  body 
they. had  borne  in  triumph  to  Assisi,  but  who  never  again 
would  call  her  " Brother  Jacoba." 

1  See  page  137. 


APPENDIX 

AUTHORITIES   FOR  THE  LIFE  OF  SAINT  FRANCIS 
OF  ASSISI 


23 


AUTHORITIES  FOR  THE  LIFE  OF  SAINT  FRANCIS 
OF   ASSISI 


IN  recent  times  there  have  been  few  sources  of  more  vivid 
discussion  in  the  learned  world  than  the  question  of  the 
true  value  of  the  authorities  for  the  life  of  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi. 
This  discussion  was  aroused  by  the  appearance  in  1894  of 
Sabatier's  Vie  de  S.  Franqois  d' Assise  and  by  his  edition  in  1898 
of  the  work  Speculum  perfedionis  with  the  bold  sub-title,  "The 
oldest  legend  of  St.  Francis,  written  by  Brother  Leo  and  now 
published  for  the  first  time."  Without  going  too  close  to  the 
limits  of  veracity  one  can  say  that  the  celebrated  Frenchman 
had  to  give  up  nearly  all  the  theories  which  he  undertook  to 
uphold  in  this  work.  But  his  errors  have  proved  to  be  very 
fruitful,  as  they  have  led  to  new  researches,  and  if  one  inquires 
who  it  is  who  above  all  others  in  most  recent  times  has  found 
new  grounds  for  Franciscan  researches,  it  is  the  name  of  Paul 
Sabatier  that  first  and  foremost  will  form  itself  upon  the  lips. 
Even  a  Columbus  based  his  discoveries  upon  false  theories,  and 
if  it  should  be  the  last  result  of  the  new  movement  in  Franciscan 
studies,  inspired  by  Sabatier,  that  the  old  modes  of  thought  should 
be  intrinsically  fortified  hereafter,  tested  as  they  have  been  by  a 
sharp  critic,  they  will  be  only  stronger  for  the  test. 

In  the  following  pages  I  shall  seek  to  unravel  the  difficult  ques- 
tion with  which  we  are  here  concerned,  while  I  pay  strict  regard 
to  all  the  researches  hitherto  carried  on  by  Sabatier  and  his  school 
or  by  their  opponents. 

As  the  first  and  most  authoritative  source  for  the  life  of  Francis 
of  Assisi  we  may  name 

339 


340  AUTHORITIES 

I  — HIS  WRITINGS 

Brother  Francis  was  not  only  a  preacher,  but  he  also  im- 
pressed the  written  word  into  his  service.  We  have  from  his 
hand,  besides  the  two  or  three  Rules  of  the  Order  (Tres  Socii,  IX, 
35),  Admonitions,  Letters,  Psalms  of  Praise,  and  Prayers,  nearly 
all  in  Latin.  We  know  the  names  of  several  people  with  whom  he 
corresponded:  St.  Clara,  Sisters  of  her  Order,  Cardinal  Hugolin, 
who  afterwards  was  Pope  under  the  name  Gregory  IX,  Brother 
Elias  of  Cortona  and  St.  Anthony  of  Padua.1  We  know  also  the 
name  of  his  secretary;  it  was  Brother  Leo.  Legend  presents  him 
in  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  Fioretti  wandering  with  Francis  on 
the  road  from  Perugia  to  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  and  step  by 
step  Francis  called  out  to  him  and  ordered  him  to  write  what  he 
was  now  saying  —  "Mark  that  accurately,  Brother  Leo,  and  write 
that  down."  This  is  what  Brother  Leo  constantly  did,  and  he  thus 
became  not  only  the  secretary  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  but  also  his 
biographer  and  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  our  knowledge  of 
the  Umbrian  founder  of  the  Order. 

The  writings  of  Francis,  whether  they  were  in  manuscript  or 
put  down  with  the  pen  of  Brother  Leo,  whether  they  were,  like 
most,  in  Latin  or,  like  some,  in  Italian,  are  not  all  in  existence. 
Thus  the  Florentine  chronicler  Mariano  (d.  1527)  speaks  of  "some 
Praise  Songs  in  Italian  to  the  Sisters  of  St.  Clara";  we  have 
them  no  more.2  To  make  up  for  this  and  other  losses  the  Irish 
Minorite,  Luke  Wadding,  in  his  well-known  edition  of  the  works 
of  St.  Francis  (Antwerp,  1623),  injected  a  quantity  of  "Sayings, 
Conversations,  Witticisms,  Comparisons  and  Examples"  which 
various  legends  had  placed  in  the  mouth  of  St.  Francis,  and  which 
he  now  without  further  research  brought  forward  in  direct  form 
as  "Words  of  St.  Francis."  Down  to  the  most  recent  time  this 
principle  has  been  more  or  less  followed;  the  year  1904  first  pro- 
duced a  real  critical  edition,  due  to  the  Franciscans  in  Quaracchi. 

1  Acta  Sanctorum,  Aug.  II,  p.  767.  Seraphicae  Legislationis  Textus  originates 
(Quaracchi,  1897),  pp.  63,  276.  Thomas  of  Celano,  Vita  prima,  II,  5,  Vita 
secunda,  III,  99.  Tres  Socii,  XVI,  67.  Speculum  perfections,  Sabatier's  ed., 
cap.  108,  Lemmens'  edition,  cap.  18. 

2Opuscula  S.  P.  Francisci  Assisiensis  (Quaracchi,  1904),  p.  IX,  n.  1.  In 
the  Speculum  perfections  (Sabatier's  ed.,  Paris,  1898),  cap.  70,  are  given  "quae- 
dam  sancta  verba  cum  cantu,"  which  Francis  wrote  "pro  consolatione  et  aedi- 
ficatione  pauperum  dominarum";  compare  the  same  work,  p.  291,  for  the 
researches  which  were  organized  to  find  them,  and  Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Francois 
(1894),  p.  377;  see  also  the  Testament  of  St.  Clara  (Acta  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  747)- 


HIS    WRITINGS  341 

In  this  new  edition,  Opuscula  Sancti  Patris  Francisci  Assisien- 
sis  (Ad  Claras  Aquas,  1904,  xvi  and  209  pp.),  are  found  only  the 
works  which  the  writers  are  justified  in  accepting.  The  prin- 
cipal source  is  a  manuscript  of  the  fourteenth  century  (MS. 
No.  338  in  Assisi,  described  by  Ehrle  in  Archiv  fur  Litter atur  und 
Kirchen-Geschichte  des  Mittelalters,  Vol.  I,  pp.  484-485). l 

The  severity  of  the  criticism  to  which  all  was  subjected  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  while  Wadding  in  his  collection  had  seventeen 
letters  of  St.  Francis,  the  Quaracchi  edition  gives  only  six.  Also 
the  Rule  of  the  Order  of  the  Poor  Clares  and  the  Rule  of  the 
Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  which  were  formerly  ascribed  to  St. 
Francis,  are  attributed  to  him  no  longer. 

While  I  abandon  the  sequence  in  which  the  editors  have  arranged 
the  authentic  writings  of  St.  Francis  still  in  existence,  I  have 
divided  them  into  poetic  and  prose  works,  and  take  up  in  the  first 
group  what  I  would  call  Francis  of  Assisi's 

Religious  Poems 

Francis  was  by  nature  of  a  joyful  spirit. 

Thomas  of  Celano,  speaking  of  the  time  before  his  conversion, 
says  that  Francis  and  his  friends  disturbed  the  citizens  of  Assisi 
at  night  with  "drunken  songs"  2;  the  Tres  Socii  say  that  he  was 
"addicted  to  joke  and  song."  This  delight  in  song  did  not  leave 
him  after  his  conversion.  After  having  abandoned  his  paternal 
inheritance  he  wandered  through  the  woods  "singing  the  praise 
of  the  Lord";  as  he  begged  the  sons  of  his  city  in  the  market- 
place of  Assisi  for  stones  to  restore  the  church  of  San  Damiano  he 
did  it  singing;  he  went  out  with  Brother  Giles  on  his  first  mission 
trip  with  song.  It  was  song  that  comforted  him  during  his  many 
long  sicknesses,  and  he  received  the  approach  of  death  singing  — 
mortem  cantando  suscepit,  as  Thomas  of  Celano  wrote.3 

His  religious  feelings  broke  forth  easily.  Often  in  his  prose 
writings  it  is  to  be  remarked  how  inspiration  will  suddenly  seize 
the  writer,  and  in  the  middle  of  a  Rule  of  the  Order  one  is  aston- 

1  See  also  Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Francois,  pp.  39-41  and  p.  370,  n.  1,  where 
the  manuscripts  in  question  are  given  to  about  1240,  W.  Gotz  in  Brieger's 
"Zeitschrift  £ur  Kirchengeschichte,"  vol.  XXII,  p.  373,  note  2,  as  well  as  Faloci 
in  Miscellanea  Francescana,  VI,  p.  45.  The  Quaracchi  edition  contains  only 
the  Latin  works  and  therefore  does  not  include  the  Sun  Song. 

2  Cel.,  V.  sec.,  I,  3;  Tres  Socii,  n.  2. 

3  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  7;  Tres  Socii,  nn.  21,  33.  Cel.,'  V.  sec,  III,  66,  138.  Cel., 
V.  pr.,  I,  8.     Cel.,  V.  sec,  III,  139. 


342  AUTHORITIES 

ished  to  find  a  Song  of  Praise  to  the  Almighty,  a  laud,  as  the 
technical  expression  eventually  became.  In  the  first  of  the  Rules 
of  the  Order,  preserved  to  us  in  Chap.  XXI,  Francis  himself  pro- 
duces such  a  laud  for  the  Brothers  to  sing,  when  and  how  they 
wished,  and  which  began  thus: 

Timete  et  honorate, 

laudete  et  benedicite, 

gratias  agite  et  adorate 

Dominum  Deum  omnipotentem  in  trinitate  et  uhitate.  .  .  . 

Another  more  complete  laud  is  preserved  for  us  in  the  last 
chapter  of  the  same  Rule,1  and  as  independent  poetical  works  we 
have  from  the  hand  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  no  less  than  four  Praise 
Songs  —  three  in  Latin  and  one  in  Italian.  The  Italian  is  the 
celebrated  Sun  Song,  the  Latin  ones  are  entitled  Laudes  Domini, 
Laudes  de  virtutibus  and  Laudes  Dei. 

i.  The  Sun  Song  or  Song  about  Creatures  (Cantico  difrate  sole, 
laude  delle  creature). 

That  this,  the  first-born  work  of  the  Italian  school  of  poetry,  is 
not  a  translation  of  a  Latin  text,  but  was  really  written  by  St. 
Francis  in  his  mother  tongue,  is  now  proved  by  the  old  description 
of  St.  Francis'  wanderings  and  doings  in  Rieti  (Libellus  actuum  b. 
Patris  Francisci  tempore  quo  fuit  in  civitate  Reate  et  comitatu  ejus- 
dem).  This  work  seems  to  belong  to  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century;  a  copy  of  the  one  which  is  in  the  great  convent  library 
in  Assisi  is  dated  1416.  In  it  it  is  said  explicitly  that  Francis 
"had  written  this  Praise  Song  in  the  language  of  the  country.  .  .  . 
And  because  our  Holy  Father  has  composed  it  I  have  not  ventured 
to  change  it."  2  The  work  Speculum  perfectionis,  which  belongs 
to  about  the  year  1300,  contains  the  Sun  Song  in  Chapter  120,  the 

1  The  17th  chapter  also  has  a  species  of  Lauds;  they  specially  resemble  the 
Laudes  Dei  named  below. 

In  Chronica  XXIV  generalium  it  is  told  —  which  also  belongs  here — that 
Brother  Rufino  on  Mt.  Alverna  more  solito,  "in  his  usual  manner,"  gave 
Francis  the  greeting:  Laus  et  benedictio  sit  Domino  Deo  nostro  {Anal.  Fran- 
ciscana,  III,  p.  48). 

Chap.  XXI  of  the  First  Rule  of  the  Order  is  to  be  found  written  side  by  side 
with  the  Sun  Song,  in  a  manuscript  in  S.  Isidoro  in  Rome  dating  from  the  four- 
teenth century  with  the  special  endorsement  De  laude  et  exhortatione,  quam 
possunt  omnes  fratres  facere.  (Doc.  antiq.  Franc.,  Lemmens'  ed.,  Ill,  Quaracchi, 
1902,  p.  62.) 

2  MS.  679  in  Assisi,  is  given  in  Marcellino  da  Civezza's  and  Teofilo  Domeni- 
chelli's  edition  of  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum,  Rome,  1899,  pp.  208. 


HIS     WRITINGS  343 

occasion  of  its  composition  is  told  in  Chapter  ioo,  and  in  Chapters 
101  and  123  the  reasons  are  given  why  it  was  afterward  increased 
with  some  few  strophes.  Thomas  of  Celano  knows  Francis  of 
Assisi's  "song  about  creatures"  and  knows  that  he  wrote  it  on  his 
sick-bed.1 

That  the  remaining  Italian  poems,  which  have  long  been  ascribed 
to  St.  Francis  {In  foco  amor  mi  mise  and  Amor  di  caritade)  were 
not  by  him,  but  by  Jacopone  da  Todi,  was  known  to  Pater  Ireneo 
Affo  a  hundred  years  before  the  modern  north  European  phi- 
lologers  knew  it.2 

2.  Laudes  Domini,  "the  praises  of  the  Lord,"  a  laud  which 
consists  (a)  in  a  paraphrase  of  the  Paternoster,  (b)  of  a  sort  of 
part-song,  made  up  in  parts  from  the  Apocalypse,  from  the  Book 
of  Daniel  and  from  the  literature  of  the  Church.  (Te  Deum.) 
It  is  apparently  this  laud  that  Francis  refers  to  when  he,  as 
Eccleston  tells  us,  in  a  letter  to  the  Brothers  in  France  exhorted 
them  to  sing  with  jubilee  the  praises  of  the  Divine  Trinity  with 
the  words:  "Let  us  praise  the  Father  and  the  Son  with  the  Holy 
Ghost."  3  In  the  Speculum  perfectionis  (cap.  82,  ed.  Sabatier)  it 
is  told  that  the  Brothers  in  Portiuncula,  as  a  punishment  for 
having  spoken  superfluous  words,  had  to  recite  the  prayer  "Our 
Father"  with  "The  praises  of  the  Lord,"  and  in  the  same  place  it 
is  said  that  Francis  himself  was  very  fond  of  reciting  this  prayer 
and  always  strenuously  recommended  it  to  the  other  Brothers. 
The  rubric  in  the  Assisi  Manuscript  No.  338  agrees  with  this. 
We  are  there  told  that  Francis  prescribed  these  Laudes  Domini 

1  Vita  secunda,  III,  138:  "Laudes  de  creaturis  tunc  quasdam  composuit  et 
eas  utcumque  ad  Creatorem  laudandum  accendit."  Ill,  139:  "Invitabat 
omnes  creaturas  ad  laudem  Dei,  et  per  verba  quaedam,  quae  olim  composuerat 
ipse  eas  ad  divinum  hortabatur  amorem." 

2  Affd:  In  cantici  di  S.  Francesco,  Guastalla,  1777.  In  more  recent  times  the 
Sun  Song  was  studied  by  Bohmer  ("Romanische  Studien,"  Halle,  1871,  H.  I, 
p.  120),  by  Ozanam  (Les  poetes  franciscains,  1882,  p.  87  and  p.  361),  by  Sabatier 
(Vie  de  S.  Francois,  pp.  349-353,  Speculum  perfectionis,  pp.  277-283  and  p. 
198,  n.  1),  by  Faloci-Pulignani  (Miscellanea  Francescana,  II,  190,  III,  3-6,  IV, 
87-88,  VII,  fasc.  I).  Delia  Giovanna  has  (in  Giornale  storico  di  letteratura 
italiana,  vol.  XXV,  vol.  XXIX,  vol.  XXXIII)  questioned  the  authenticity 
of  the  Sun  Song.  On  the  other  side,  Misc.  Franc,  VI,  43-50,  and  Analecta 
Bollandiana,  XIV,  p.  227.  Gotz  (Briegers  Zeitschrift,  vol.  XXII,  pp.  561-563) 
regards  the  Sun  Song  "provisionally"  as  genuine. 

Editions  of  the  text  of  the  Sun  Song:  Papini:  Storia  di  S.  Francesco,  II,  Foligno, 
1827,  p.  144;  Cristofani:  Storia  di  S.  Damiano,  Assisi,  1883;  Faloci:  Misc. 
Franc,  III,  3-6  (five  variations):  Sabatier:  Speculum  perfectionis,  Paris,  1898, 
pp.   284-289   (four  variations). 

3  Analecta  Franciscana,  I,  p.  232. 


344  AUTHORITIES 

"for  all  Canonical  hours  of  the  day  or  night  and  for  the  Hours  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary."  x 

As  a  sort  of  continuation  of  these  lauds  there  usually  appears 
a  Greeting  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  is  given  in  the  Quaracchi 
edition,  p.  123.    These  must  not  be  confused  with: 

3.  Laudes  de  virtutibus  or  Salutatio  virtutum  (Quar.  ed.,  pp. 
20-21),  whose  authenticity  is  testified  to  by  Thomas  of  Celano,  who 
(Vita  secunda,  III,  119)  tells  us  that  Francis  "In  the  Laud  he  com- 
posed concerning  virtues  speaks  thus,  'Hail  to  thee,  Queen  Wis- 
dom, God  salutes  thee,  and  thy  Sister,  the  pure  holy  Simplicity.'" 
But  this  is  a  literal  quotation  from  Laudes  de  virtutibus,  which, 
with  its  invocations  of  the  "Holy  Lady  Poverty,"  of  "Lady 
Charity,"  "Sister  Humility,"  and  "Sister  Obedience,"  bears  so 
strong  and  genuine  an  imprint  of  Francis. 

4.  Laudes  Dei.  These  lauds  have  a  particular  status  because 
the  original  manuscript  of  one  of  them  holds  a  place  as  one  of 
the  few  autographs  of  St.  Francis  which  have  been  preserved  up 
to  the  present  time.2  It  is  written  on  the  back  of  another  auto- 
graph, namely,  Blessing  to  Brother  Leo,  and  the  two  autograph 
pieces  are  best  treated  in  connection  with  each  other. 

According  to  Thomas  of  Celano  (Vita  secunda,  II,  18;  compare 
Bonav.,  Legenda  major,  cap.  XI,  n.  9)  it  came  to  pass  in  the  year 
1224  that  Brother  Leo,  while  he  was  on  Mt.  Alverna  together  with 
St.  Francis,  fell  into  a  great  but  purely  spiritual  temptation. 
"And  he  desired  inwardly  to  have  a  reminder  of  the  word  of  the 
Lord  written  by  the  hand  of  St.  Francis.  .  .  .  And  one  day  St. 
Francis  addresses  him  and  says:  'Bring  me  paper  and  ink,  for  I 
want  to  write  down  the  Word  of  God  and  his  Praise  which  I  have 
preserved  in  my  heart.'  At  once  there  is  brought  to  him  what 
he  asks  for,  and  with  his  own  hand  he  writes  the  praises  of  God 
(laudes  Dei),  together  with  the  Word  as  he  wished  it  and  finally  a 
blessing  for  the  Brother,  while  he  says,  'Take  this  paper  with  you 
and  preserve  it  carefully  until  your  death.  By  the  same  all  your 
temptations  flee.'  The  letter  is  preserved  and  afterwards  worked 
miracles." 

This  was  not  the  only  time  that  Francis  gave  some  lines  to  one 
of  his  disciples  written  by  his  own  hand  with  the  exhortation  to 

1The  Franciscans  still  use  in  part  this  form — see  my  "Pilgrimsbogen," 
1903,  pp.  34-36. 

2  There  are  three:  Laudes  Dei,  Blessing  of  Brother  Leo  and  a  letter  to  Brother 
Leo.  See  Faloci:  Gli  Autograft  di  S.  Francesco  in  Misc.  Francescana,  VI  (1895), 
pp.  32-39,  and  VII,  p.  67. 


HIS    WRITINGS  345 

preserve  them.  Thus  he  said  in  the  end  of  the  letter  to  Elias  of 
Cortona:  "Keep  this  writing  with  you,  so  that  you  can  better 
comply  with  it."  l 

Whether  Brother  Elias  followed  this  advice  literally  we  do  not 
know,  but  the  humble  Brother  Leo  —  "God's  little  lamb,"  as  the 
master  called  him  —  faithfully  kept  with  him  the  blessing  from 
the  hand  of  St.  Francis  until  his  death,  that  finally  occurred  on 
November  14,  1271.  The  parchment  so  faithfully  preserved  by 
him  was  inherited  by  the  Franciscan  convent  in  Assisi  (Sagro 
Convento),  within  whose  walls  Brother  Leo  ended  his  days.2 
There  the  autograph,  somewhat  faded,  was  smoothed  out  and 
framed;  in  a  list  of  the  relics  of  St.  Francis  made  in  1348  there 
is  named  "a  wooden  frame  with  the  blessing  of  Brother  Leo," 
together  with  "Praise  of  the  Creator  written  by  St.  Francis'  own 
hand."  3  When  Wadding  was  in  Assisi  in  1619,  he  was  able,  there- 
fore, to  copy  the  Laudes  Dei  for  the  use  of  his  edition  of  the  works 
of  St.  Francis  after  the  original  manuscript,  as  he  himself  states. 4 

In  our  days  the  old  autograph  is  to  be  found  in  the  sacristy  of 
the  celebrated  convent  chapel,  enclosed  in  a  beautiful  silver 
reliquary  dating  from  the  seventeenth  century.  Behind  the  glass 
of  the  reliquary  is  seen  the  piece  of  parchment,  14  centimetres  high 
and  10  centimetres  wide  (5.6  inches  by  4  inches),  with  evident 
traces  of  being  long  kept  folded.  The  first  glance  shows  one  that 
there  are  two  different  handwritings  on  the  parchment.  The 
larger,  which  is  written  with  black  ink,  is  from  the  hand  of  St. 
Francis;  the  smaller  writing,  which  is  in  red  ink  (rubrics),  is  by 
Brother  Leo. 

The  parchment  has  three  things  on  it  from  the  hand  of  St. 
Francis.  The  first  is  the  Blessing,  the  next  is  the  Dedication  of 
the  same,  and  the  third  is  the  Subscription,  given  in  the  form  of 
a  hieroglyph. 

1.   The  Blessing.     It  reads: 

Benedicat  tibi  Dominus  et  custo 
diat  te  ostendat  faciem 
suum  tibi  et  misereatur  tui 
convertat  vultum  suum  ad  te 
et  det  tibi  pacem. 

1Opuscula,  Quaracchi  ed.,  pp.  no,  106,  112,  114-115.  Sabatier's  Collec- 
tion d' etudes  et  de  documents,  vol.  II,  p.  115. 

2  Analecta  Franciscana,  III,  p.  65. 

3  The  list  is  found  in  MS.  No.  344  in  the  communal  library  in  Assisi.  Misc. 
Franc.,  vol.  I,  pp.  141-150. 

4  Edition  of  1623,  p.  101. 


346  AUTHORITIES 

This  is  the  blessing  of  the  Old  Testament  (Numbers  vi.  24-26), 
as  now  given  in  Lutheran  churches:  "The  Lord  bless  thee  and 
keep  thee.  The  Lord  shew  his  face  to  thee,  and  have  mercy  on 
thee.  The  Lord  turn  his  countenance  to  thee,  and  give  thee 
peace!" 

2.  The  Dedication. 

Dominus  bene 

dicat 

Leo  te 

"The  Lord  bless,  Leo,  thee."  There  is  some  particular  signifi- 
cance in  the  way  Brother  Leo's  name  is  put  in  between  the  verb 
of  the  sentence  and  its  object.  It  is  as  if  we  saw  Francis,  lifting 
his  eyes  from  the  parchment,  look  with  love  upon  his  bowed-down 
friend  and  brother.     "  The  Lord  bless  —  Leo !  —  thee ! " 

3.  The  Subscription. 

To  understand  this  we  must  recollect  the  occasion  on  which  the 
blessing  was  written  down.  It  was  on  Mt.  Alverna  at  the  end  of 
the  month  of  September,  1224.  On  the  festival  of  the  Elevation 
of  the  Cross  immediately  before  (September  14)  St.  Francis  had 
received  the  stigmata.  Now  he  signed  as  his  signature,  not  his 
name,  but  a  hieroglyph,  a  symbol  whose  meaning  was  the  Cruci- 
fixion. The  upright  T  is  the  prophet  Ezekiel's  letter  Thau  (Ez. 
ix.  4),  which  in  the  script  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  accepted  as  the 
sign  of  the  Cross.  And  this  Cross  is  shown  standing  on  the  Mount 
Golgotha  —  the  very  rough  outline  of  the  sketch  —  together  with 
a  skull,  the  inner  figure  resembling  a  fruit,  which  in  so  many 
of  the  Calvaries  of  the  Middle  Ages  is  shown  under  the  foot  of  the 
Cross.  A  single  modern  interpreter,1  perhaps  too  imaginative,  has 
even  claimed  to  find  in  the  mountain  of  the  sketch,  not  Golgotha, 
but  La  Verna,  and  in  the  jagged  line  thinks  that  he  sees  a  crude 
attempt  to  reproduce  the  rugged  profile  of  La  Verna.  The  mean- 
ing of  the  sketch  in  any  case  is  the  same  —  an  expression  of  the 
words  of  the  Apostle,  "I  bear  the  marks  of  the  wounds  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  on  my  body!"2 

XM.  Carmichael:  La  Benedizione  di  S.  Francesco  (Leghorn,  1900). 

2  As  far  as  this  interpretation  is  correct  it  must  be  referred  to  the  time  after 
the  stigmatization  and  therefore  to  the  last  two  years  of  St.  Francis'  life,  as  St. 
Bonaventure  says  in  his  Legend  (IV,  9):  "This  sign"  (i.e.,  of  the  Cross)  "the 
saint  held  in  an  especially  great  honor,  commanded  in  his  sermons  that  it  should 
be  used,  and  subscribed  it  with  his  own  hand  in  the  small  letters  which  he  sent 
(in  eis  quas  dirigebat  litterulis  manu  propria  subscribebat) ,  exactly  as  if  all 
his  effort  was  to  fulfil  the  words  of  the  prophet  and   '  mark  Thau  upon  the 


THE  BLESSING  OF  BROTHER  LEO 

Autograph  of  St.  Francis 


HIS     WRITINGS  347 

As  already  noted,  and  as  every  one  who  visits  Assisi  can  see  for 
himself,  the  little  bit  of  parchment  shows  clear  traces  of  having 
been  long  kept  folded  up.  This  indicates  that  Brother  Leo  ob- 
served his  lord  and  master's  command  and  kept  the  blessing  with 
him  until  he  died. 

But  besides  this,  in  the  long  time  he  survived  his  spiritual  father 
he  preserved  the  valued  memory  of  his  journey  to  the  heathen  in 
not  less  than  three  notes,  which  are  now  the  most  important  proofs 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  document.  Right  over  the  little  seal  he 
has  written  thus:  Beatus  Franciscus  scripsit  manu  sua  istam  bene- 
dictionem  mihi  fratri  Leoni,  "The  blessed  Francis  wrote  with  his 
own  hand  this  blessing  for  me,  Brother  Leo."  Under  the  signature 
comes  next:  Simili  modo  fecit  istud  signum  thau  cum  capite  manu 
sua,  "He  also  with  his  own  hand  made  this  sign  thau  with  a 
head  (skull)."  Finally,  the  uppermost  part  of  the  parchment 
bears  the  most  important  of  the  three  additions.  What  Brother 
Leo  has  written  here  is  this:  Beatus  Franciscus  duobus  annis  ante 
mortem  suam  fecit  quadragesimam  in  loco  Alverne  ad  honor  em  beate 
Virginis  Marie  matris  dei  et  beati  Michaelis  Archangeli  a  festo 
assumptionis  sancte  Marie  virginis  usque  ad  festum  sancti  michaelis 
septembris  et  facta  est  super  eum  manus  domini  propter  visionem  et 
allocutionem  seraphim  et  impressionem  stigmatum  christi  in  corpore 
suo  fecit  has  laudes  ex  alio  latere  cartule  scriptas  et  manu  sua  scripsit 
gratias  agens  domino  de  beneficio  sibi  collato. 

In  English:  "Two  years  before  his  death  the  blessed  Francis 
kept  his  fast  in  the  locality  of  Alverna  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary  Mother  of  God,  and  of  the  holy  Archangel  Michael,  from 
the  feast  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Holy  Virgin  Mary  up  to  the 
feast  of  St.  Michael  in  September  and  the  hand  of  the  Lord  came 
over  him  on  account  of  the  vision  and  allocution  of  the  seraphim 
and  of  the  impression  of  the  stigmata  of  Christ  upon  his  body  he 
made  these  praises  written  upon  the  other  side  of  the  paper  and 
giving  thanks  to  the  Lord  for  the  benefit  conferred  on  him  wrote 
with  his  own  hand." 

Brother  Leo  certainly  intended  with  this  explicit  note  to  have 
verified  the  genuineness  of  the  blessing  beyond  any  doubt.     For 

foreheads  of  the  men  that  sigh  and  mourn,'  in  the  present  case  those  who 
were  truly  converted  to  Christ  Jesus." 

In  Thomas  of  Celano,  in  this  Miracula  beati  Francisci  (first  published  in  the 
Analecta  Bollandiana,  vol.  XVIII)  is  found  the  following:  "the  sign  'Thau'  was 
dear  to  him  above  all  other  signs,  and  with  that  alone  he  subscribed  his  letters 
{missivas  cartulas)  and  marked  the  walls  of  his  cell  all  over  with  it"  (ditto,  pp. 
114-115). 


348  AUTHORITIES 

many  years  the  relic  in  Assisi  was  regarded  as  a  document  of  high 
rank  because  it  contains  the  observations  of  a  contemporary  and 
almost  of  an  eye-witness  of  the  stigmatization. 

It  happened  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  the  well- 
known  church  and  art  historian,  F.  X.  Kraus,  got  possession  of 
a  poor  facsimile  of  the  parchment,  and  basing  his  conclusions 
thereon,  claimed  that  it  was  a  counterfeit,  and  that  an  examina- 
tion of  the  signature  on  the  document  would  go  to  show  that  the 
so-called  blessing  of  St.  Francis,  at  the  earliest,  can  only  be  ascribed 
to  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  first  to  oppose  this  attack  —  and  which  came  from  the 
Catholic  side  —  was  Paul  Sabatier.  As  an  answer  to  Kraus  he 
sent  to  the  editor  of  the  journal  in  which  the  attack  had  been 
published  a  photograph  of  the  document  in  dispute,  and  in  order 
to  obtain  for  himself  an  authoritative  opinion  the  editor  placed 
this  photograph  before  three  authorities  on  palaeography,  one 
being  Wattenbach.  In  a  report  dated  October  25,  1895,  the 
unanimous  opinion  was  expressed  by  the  investigators  that  there 
is  "no  palaeographic  reason  for  denying  that  this  manuscript  may 
date  from  the  time  of  St.  Francis."  The  French  Societe  Nationale 
des  Antiquaires  came  to  the  same  conclusion  January  22,  1896. 
Later,  Walter  Gotz  placed  a  copy  of  the  blessing  of  St.  Francis 
before  Professor  Seeliger  in  Leipzig  for  his  opinion ;  his  answer  was 
also  favorable  to  the  authenticity  of  the  document.1 

The  blessing  may,  therefore,  be  real.  The  manuscript  actually 
dates  from  the  thirteenth  century,  but  may  we  not  think  that  we 
stand  before  a  very  old  copy? 

This  new  doubt  emanated  again  from  Kraus,  who  did  not  wish 
to  give  up  his  hypercritical  standpoint.  He  declared  that  accord- 
ing to  Thomas  of  Celano  and  to  Brother  Leo  the  Laudes  Dei 
written  by  Francis  should  be  found  on  the  other  side  of  the  parch- 
ment. Now  it  happens  that  in  Assisi  the  back  of  the  blessing  is 
carefully  kept  hidden  —  but  why?  Because  the  laudes  spoken  of 
are  not  to  be  found  there ! 

This  was  easily  answered.  The  silver  back  of  the  reliquary 
was  simply  removed,  and  there  was  seen  —  what  Wadding  had 
already  seen  in  the  seventeenth  century  —  the  perfectly  recogniz- 
able Laudes  Dei,  although  partly  obliterated,  because  of  the  long 
time  Brother  Leo  had  carried  the  parchment  with  him. 

1  Kraus  and  Sabatier  in  "Theologische  Literaturzeitung,"  Leipzig,  1895, 
pp.  404  and  627.  The  French  palaeographer,  Bulletin  critique,  March  5,  1896. 
Seeliger  in  Brieger's  "Zeitschrift  fur  Kirchengeschichte,"  vol.  XXII,  p.  370. 


HIS   WRITINGS  349 

As  an  example  of  St.  Francis'  Latin  poetry  this  laud  is  given 
in  the  foot-note  below,  in  the  form  reconstructed  by  Faloci  (Misc. 
Franc,  VI,  p.  38)  with  the  help  of  Wadding's  copy.  The  words 
which  still  can  be  read  in  the  Assisi  autograph  are  printed  in 
italics.1 

As  early  as  the  fifteenth  century  the  laud  was  partly  illegible, 
while  even  the  oldest  copies  —  such  as  Bartholomew  of  Pisa's  or 
the  one  in  Jacob  Oddi's  chronicle  La  Franceschina  —  do  not  give 
us  the  complete  text.  The  text  in  the  Quaracchi  edition  is  a  little 
different  from  that  given  below,  taken  from  a  manuscript  of  Assisi 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  which  the  editor  suspects  to  have  been 
a  direct  copy  of  the  original. 

In  near  relationship  with  Francis  of  Assisi 's  religious  poetry 
must  be  placed  the  Officium  Passionis  Domini  arranged  by  him  — 
which  in  fact  is  made  up  of  quotations  from  the  Bible.  Its 
genuineness  is  confirmed  by  reference  to  Thomas  of  Celano's 
Biography  of  St.  Clara.2 

Prose  Writings 

These  embrace  two  classes  —  Letters  and  Rules  of  the  Order. 

Wadding  gives  seventeen  letters  from  St.  Francis  in  his  edition. 
The  Franciscans  in  Quaracchi  have  accepted  only  six.  The  eleven 
others  are  partly  fragments  or  later  copies  of  other,  authentic 
letters,  in  part  without  any  manuscript  proofs,  reconstructed  by 
Wadding  in  Latin  after  old  Spanish  translations.  One  —  the  letter 
to  Anthony  of  Padua  —  is  excluded  from  the  Quaracchi  edition 
as  doubtful.  Sabatier  regards  it  as  a  forgery,  but  on  the  other 
hand  it  is  accepted  both  by  Gotz  and  Lempp.3  Of  one  of  the 
letters  of  which  Wadding  had  only  a  Spanish  translation,  Sabatier 

1  Tu  es  sanctus  dominus  deus.  Tu  es  deus  deorum,  qui  solus  facis  mirabilia. 
Tu  es  fortis,  tu  es  magnus,  tu  es  altissimus.  Tu  es  omnipotens,  tu  es  pater  sancte 
rex  cell  et  terrae.  Tu  es  trinus  et  unus  dominus  deus  deorum.  Tu  es  bonutn, 
omne  bonum,  summum  bonum,  dominus  deus  vivus  et  verus.  Tu  es  caritas, 
tu  es  sapientia,  tu  es  humilitas,  tu  es  patiefitia.  Tu  es  pulchritudo,  tu  es  securitas. 
Tu  es  quietas,  tu  es  gaudium.  Tu  es  spes  nostra,  tu  es  justitia  .  .  .  et  temper- 
antia  .  .  .  tu  es  omnia  divitia  nostra  ad  siifficientiam.  .  .  .  Tu  es  mansuetudo 
.  .  .  tu  es  protector,  tu  es  custos  et  defensor.  .  .  .  Tu  es  refugium  nostrum  et 
virtus.  Tu  es  fides,  spes  et  caritas  nostra.  Tu  es  magna  dulcedo  nostra.  Tu 
es  bonitas  infinita,  magnus  et  admirabilis  dominus  deus,  omnipotens,  pius  et 
misericors  et  salvator. 

2  A.  SS.,  August  II,  p.  761. 

3  Sabatier,  Vie,  p.  322.  Gotz  in  "Zeitschr.  f.  Kirchengesch."  (Gotha),  vol. 
XXII,  p.  529,  Lempp  in  same,  vol.  XII,  p.  425,  n.  2,  and  pp.  438  et  seq. 


350  AUTHORITIES 

some  few  years  ago  found  a  Latin  counterpart,  but  which  differs 
considerably  from  Wadding's  text.1 

The  different  letters  will  be  found  described  in  the  biography, 
where  they  belong;  there  also  will  be  found  the  necessary  critical 
elucidations. 

The  same  applies  to  the  Rules  of  the  Order  which  have  been 
preserved  for  us  —  the  first  called  by  Karl  Miiller  the  Rule  of 
1 22 1,  and  the  second  approved  in  1223  by  Honorius  III.  In 
connection  with  the  Rules  of  the  Order  the  so-called  Admonitiones 
(Admonitions)  will  also  be  treated,  as  well  as  the  Hermit-Rules 
belonging  with  them,  and  the  circular  letter,  "On  Reverence  for 
the  Lord's  Body." 

The  Rule  of  the  Poor  Clares  and  the  Rule  of  the  Third  Order 
of  St.  Francis,  such  as  we  now  know  them,  are  no  longer 
attributed  by  anybody  to  St.  Francis;  in  the  Rule  of  the  Poor 
Clares  we  find,  however,  some  few  lines  of  his  hand,  remains  of  the 
Forma  vivendi  (Mode  of  life)  he  originally  wrote  for  the  Poor  Clares 
and  of  his  Ultima  voluntas  (Last  charge)  to  them.  These  two  will 
be  spoken  of  in  the  proper  place. 

Finally,  we  have  from  the  hand  of  Francis  of  Assisi  a  remarkable 
document,  which  can  often  be  found  referred  to  in  this  work  — 
his  Testament.  This  document  is  half  of  the  regular  character, 
half  a  sort  of  autobiography.  Its  genuineness  has  been  disputed 
by  Karl  Hasse;  he  regards  it  as  being  "made  up  of  real  and  known 
utterances  of  Francis,  in  confirmation  of  his  Rule  and  of  the  Roman 
spirit."  For  Sabatier  it  is  practically  the  reverse,  "almost  a 
revocation"  of  the  same  Rule.  Gotz  regards  it  as  so  reliable  a 
document  "that  all  the  other  remains,"  according  to  him,  "may  be 
proved  thereby."  2 

In  reality  the  genuineness  of  the  Testament  is  beyond  all  doubt. 
Not  only  that  the  descriptions  and  thoughts  therein  are  so  truly 
Franciscan  and  accord  with  all  that  we  otherwise  know  of  St. 
Francis,  but,  as  Gotz  has  remarked,  the  speech  also  bears  everywhere 
the  marks  of  having  been  written  down  from  dictation,  and  is 
primitive  and  unpolished.  Besides,  a  whole  quantity  of  other 
criteria  speak  for  its  authenticity.  Thomas  of  Celano  and  Julian 
of  Speier  give  it  three  times  separately.  Gregory  IX  refers  to  it 
in  his  bull  (Quo  elongati)  of  September  28,  1230,  twice  and  gives 

1  Collection  oVetudes,  etc.,  ed.  Sabatier,  vol.  II,  pp.  135  et  seq. 

2Hase:  "Franz  v.  Assisi"  (Leipzig,  1856),  p.  136,  n.  8.  Sabatier:  Vie,  p. 
316.  Gotz  in  Brieger's  "  Zeitschr.  f.  Kirchengesch.,"  vol.  XXII  (Gotha, 
iqoi),  p.  376. 


BIOGRAPHERS  351 

it  in  indirect  form.    Finally,  it  is  cited  twice  in  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend.1 

Sabatier  thinks  that  Francis  wrote  his  Testament  several  times, 
and  bases  this  conclusion  on  Cap.  87  of  the  Speculum  perfedionis, 
where  the  sick  saint  has  Brother  Benedict  of  Prato  called  to  him 
and  "in  three  words"  imparts  his  last  will  to  him  and  to  all  the 
Brethren.2  He  also  left  to  St.  Clara  and  the  Sisters  of  her  Order 
testamentary  notes.3 


II  —  BIOGRAPHERS 

The  list  of  the  biographers  of  St.  Francis,  whom  it  is  permissible 
to  take  as  original  sources,  begins  shortly  after  his  death  with 
Thomas  of  Celano  and  ends  about  the  year  1400  with  works  of 
compilation  such  as  Bartholomew  of  Pisa's  Conformitates  (1385) 
and  the  anonymous  Speculum  vitae  S.  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus 
(about  1445).  I  divide  these  biographers  into  four  successive 
groups,  each  with  its  own  definite  chronological  limits  and  also 
with  its  express  character,  and  I  will  designate  the  following 
groups,  named  after  the  most  prominent  of  the  authors  or  books: 

1.  Thomas  of  Celano  Group  (about  1230). 

2.  Brother  Leo  Group  (about  1245). 

3.  St.  Bonaventure  Group  (about  1265). 

4.  Speculum  Group  (later  than  about  1320).4 

1  As  an  example  I  give  this  single  comparison: 

Celano,  Vita  prima,  I,  7:  sicut  ipse  in  testamento  suo  loquitur,  dicens: 
Quia  cum  essem  in  peccatis,  nimis  amarum  mihi  videbatur  videre  leprosos,  et 
Dominus  conduxit  me  inter  illos,  et  feci  misericordiam  cum  illis. 

Testament:  quia,  cum  essem  in  peccatis,  nimis  mihi  videbatur  amarum 
videre  leprosos;  et  ipse  Dominus  conduxit  me  inter  illos,  et  feci  misericordiam 
cum  illis.     (Quaracchi  ed.,  p.  76.) 

See  also  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  15  =  Test.  (Q.  ed.)  p.  79;  I,  17  =  PP-  77~78;  Cel.,  V. 
sec,  III,  99  =  pp.  78-79;  Julian  of  Speier  (A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  579,  n.  182)  = 
p.  80;  Quo  elongati  (Sab.,  Spec,  perf.,  pp.  314-322)  =  p.  82,  p.  80.  Tres  Socii, 
IV,  11  =  Cel.,  V.  pr.,  I,  17;  VIII,  26  =  as  quoted  by  Julian  of  Speier. 

2  The  three  words  were:  mutual  charity — love  of  poverty  —  obedience 
to  the  Church. 

3  See  his  Ultima  voluntas  admitted  into  the  Rule  of  the  Clares.  Compare 
the  following  place  in  St.  Clara's  testament:  "plura  scripta  nobis  tradidit, 
ne  post  mortem  suam  declinaremus  a  paupertate"  (A.  SS.,  Aug.  II,  p.  767. 
Seraph,  legislations  textus  originates,  Quaracchi,  1897,  p.  276.  Wadding, 
1253,  n.  5). 

4  As  the  first  biographical  work  we  may  name  the  Circular  letter  to  all  the 
Brothers,  sent  out  by  Elias  of  Cortona  immediately  after  Francis'  death  (Wad- 
ding, II,  pp.  149-150;  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  pp.  668-669). 


352 


AUTHORITIES 


i.  Thomas  of  Celano  Group 


I  assign  to  this  group  first  and  foremost  Thomas  of  Celano's 
Vita  prima,  next  Julian  of  Speier's  Legend,  which  later  is  quoted 
in  the  Speculum  historiale,  of  the  Dominican  Vincent  of  Beauvais, 
finally  the  versified  biography  written  by  Brother  Henry,  with 
many  shorter  legends,  especially  for  liturgical  use. 

(a)  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  prima.  Thomas  of  Celano,  author 
of  the  celebrated  Judgment  Day  Hymn  Dies  tree,  was  born  about 
1 200  and  entered  the  Franciscan  Order  between  12 13  and  12 16. 
He  was  received  into  the  Order  by  Francis  himself,  just  at  the 
time  when  St.  Francis  had  decided  to  go  to  Morocco,  but  was 
prevented  from  carrying  out  that  intention.1  After  the  Pentecost 
Chapter  of  1221  he  went  as  a  missionary  to  Germany,  in  1222  was 
custodian  in  Mayence,  later  in  Worms  and  in  Cologne;  in  1223 
the  German  Provincial,  Brother  Caesarius  of  Speier,  installed  him 
as  his  vicar,  while  he,  Caesarius,  went  to  Italy;  in  1227  he  followed 
the  new  Provincial,  Brother  Albert  of  Pisa,  to  the  General  Chapter 
at  Portiuncula.  He  spent  the  next  year  in  Italy.  His  description 
of  St.  Francis'  canonization  in  1228  leads  us  to  suspect  that  he 
himself  was  in  attendance  there.  He  received  from  Gregory  IX 
the  commission  to  prepare  a  biography  of  St.  Francis  and  as  early 
as  February  25,  1229,  was  able  to  hand  the  complete  work  to  the 
Pope.2 

1  On  account  of  the  uncertainty  of  this  date  we  can  only  say  that  Celano's 
admission  to  the  Order  came  within  these  limits.  Vita  prima,  I,  cap.  20:  "Sed 
bonus  Deus,  cui  mei  et  multorum  .  .  .  placuit  recordari,  cum  jam  ivisset 
versus  Hispaniam  .  .  .  eum  a  coepto  itinere  revocavit.  Revertente  quoque 
ipso  ad  ecclesiam  s.  Mariae  de  Portiuncula,  tempore  non  multo  post  quidam 
litterati  viri  .  .  .  ei  gratissime  adhaeserunt."     See  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  546,  n.  6. 

2  For  biographical  notes  on  Thomas  of  Celano  see  Jordanus  of  Giano  (Anal. 
Franc,  I,  pp.  8,  11)  and  Chronica  anonyma  (Anal.  Franc,  I,  pp.  287,  289).  In 
his  preface  to  his  biography  of  St.  Francis  he  claims  to  write  "  jubente  domino  et 
gloriosopapaGregorio."  One  of  the  MSS.  of  the  Legend  (3817,  National  Lib- 
rary, Paris,  fourteenth  century)  contains  the  following  note:  "  Apud  Perusium 
felix  domnus  papa  Gregorius  nonus  secundo  gloriosi  pontificatus  sui  anno  quinto 
kal.  martii  legendam  hanc  recepit,  confirmavit  et  censuit  fore  tenendam." 
(Catalogus  codicum  hagiographorum  latinorum  in  Bibl.  Nat.  Parisiensi,  Brussels, 
1889, 1,  p.  364.)  Thomas  of  Celano's  authorship  is  also  testified  to  by  Jordanus 
of  Giano  (1262):  "Thoma  de  Celano,  qui  legendam  sancti  Francisci  et  primam 
et  secundam  postea  conscripsit"  (Anal.  Fran.,  I,  p.  8),  by  Salimbene  (1283, 
Parma  ed.,  p.  60):  "praecepit  (fr.  Crescentius)  Thomae  de  Celano,  qui 
primam  legendam  beati  Francisci  fecerat,  ut  iterum  scriberet  alium  librum," 
by  Bernard  of  Bessa,  St.  Bonaventure's  secretary,  who,  in  the  introduction  to 
his  legend,  says  (about  1290):  "beati  Francisci  vitam  scripsit  .  .  .  f rater 
Thomas,  jubente  domino  Gregorio  papa"  (Anal.  Fr.,  Ill,  p.  666). 


BIOGRAPHERS  353 

Thomas  of  Celano  explains  in  the  preface  that  he  used  two 
sources  of  information:  his  personal  experiences  and  reliable 
witnesses,  and  that  he  always  strictly  followed  the  truth.1  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  this  assertion  of  a  serious  man,  and  the 
modern  attempts  to  represent  him  as  a  biassed  writer  and  falsifier 
of  history  simply  take  away  the  ground  which  at  one  time  seemed 
to  have  been  conquered.  To-day,  as  Gotz  has  said,  "Celano's 
Vita  prima  is  the  fixed  point,  from  which  the  determination  of  the 
value  of  our  sources  must  begin." 2 

When  Thomas  of  Celano  makes  excuses  in  his  preface  for  his 
"  unpolished  words,"  it  is  nothing  but  modesty.  He  is  really  what 
he  himself  calls  himself,  a  vir  liter  atus,  a  lettered  man,  who  has 
perfect  command  of  his  style;  one  can  turn  over  the  pages  of  all 
literature  without  finding  more  captivating  sketches  of  men  and 
occurrences  than  in  Celano,  and  his  Latin  is  carried  along  by 
a  constantly  sustained,  gently  undulating  rhythm.  The  faults 
which  affect  his  style  are  the  faults  of  the  time ;  he  does  not  always 
avoid,  in  spite  of  his  attempts  to  do  so,  what  he  himself  entitles 

1  "veritate  semper  praevia  .  .  .  quae  ex  ipsius  ore  audivi,  vel  a  fidelibus  et 
probatis  testibus  intellexi  .  .  .  verbis  licet  imperitis  studui  explicare." 

2  Gotz,  Brieger's  Zeitschrift,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  166.  Attacking  Thomas  of  Celano 
see  Karl  Miiller:  "Die  Anfdnge  des  Minoritenordens,"  pp.  181  et  seq.  Sabatier: 
Speculum  perfectionis,  pp.  98-199.;  in  part  Minocchi:  La  Legenda  trium  soci- 
orum,  Florence,  1900,  pp.  81-85.  In  support  of  Celano  see  Faloci  in  Miscel- 
lanea Francescana,  VIII,  pp.  140  et  seq.,  Tilemann:  "Speculum  perfectionis 
und  Legenda  trium  sociorum"  Leipzig,  1902,  pp.  23-33,  and  Gotz.  Sabatier 
also  formerly  gave  Celano  a  high  standing:  "He  makes  an  entirely  direct 
impression  of  being  honorable  and  true;  if  he  is  partial  he  does  not  wish 
to  be  so,  and  perhaps  does  not  know  it.  .  .  .  One  feels  at  every  instant  re- 
strained emotion,  the  heart  of  the  writer  overcome  with  the  moral  beauty  of 
his  hero."     {Vie  de  S.  Francois,  1894,  pp.  liv  and  lvi.) 

But  later  Thomas  of  Celano  became  for  Sabatier  a  real  falsifier,  who,  to  serve 
a  bad  cause,  found  every  method  good  (see  Speculum  perfectionis,  Opuscules 
de  critique  historique,  III,  p.  70,  n.  1);  now  he  has  become  the  accomplice  of 
Brother  Elias  of  Cortona  and  of  Cardinal  Hugolin  and  consequently  an  enemy 
of  the  Franciscan  ideal.  Yes,  Sabatier  will  in  Celano's  Vita  prima  only  see  an 
answer  to  Brother  Leo's  Legenda  antiquissima,  "the  Mirror  of  Perfection," 
issued  in  1227.  As  will  be  shown  later,  Brother  Leo,  in  1227,  had  issued  no  such 
work  and  the  hypothesis  falls  to  the  ground.  If  Thomas  had  perhaps  in  his 
first  legend,  which  was  written  long  before  the  deposition  of  Elias  of  Cortona, 
looked  favourably  upon  this  remarkable  and  unfortunate  man,  so  in  his  Vita 
secunda,  written  in  1247,  he  has  given  his  better  views  their  due  expression. 
Far  from  being  a  malicious  betrayer,  Thomas  reveals  himself  as  a  simple, 
almost  naive  soul  whose  principal  failure  as  a  biographer  is  that  of  being  too 
careful  a  stylist.  His  picture  of  St.  Francis  is  essentially  the  same  as  we  get 
from  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  and  from  the  Fioretti.  (Sabatier,  Vie  de  S. 
Fr.,  p.  lvi,  Gotz,  Vol.  XXIV,  pp.  179,  193.)  ' 

24 


354  AUTHORITIES 

" verbal  decorations,"  verborum  phalleras,  and  on  long-continued 
perusal  his  work  may  have  a  tiresome  effect  —  somewhat  in  the 
same  way  as  the  writings  of  the  highly  rhetorical  religious  authors 
of  the  seventeenth  century  in  France.1 

(b)  In  perfect  sequence  to  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  prima 
stands  Julian  of  Speier's  Legend.  Before  his  entrance  into  the 
Order  Julian  was  choirmaster  with  Louis  VIII  of  France;  besides 
the  Legend  he  also  composed  in  prose  a  Nocturnale  Sancti  officium 
in  litter  a  et  cantu.2  He  made  the  acquaintance  of  Thomas  of 
Celano  in  the  General  Chapter  of  1227.  According  to  Glass- 
berger's  Chronicle  (Anal.  Franc,  II,  46)  Julian's  Legend  begins 
with  the  words  Ad  hoc  quorundam.  But  these  are  precisely  the 
first  words  in  the  prologue  to  the  Bollandists'  so-called  "  second 
biography"  of  St.  Francis,  which  they  had  ascribed  to  John  of 
Ceperano,  Notary  Apostolic  under  Gregory  IX  (see  later). 

Julian's  work  is  thus  preserved;  his  prose  legend  —  which  does 
not  offer  much  that  is  new — as  well  as  his  rhymed  Office,  has  in 
recent  years  been  an  object  for  deep  studies.3 

Julian  of  Speier  died  1250. 

1  Celano's  Vita  prima  was  first  published  by  the  Bollandists  in  Acta  Sanc- 
torum, Oct.  II  (1768),  then  by  Rinaldi,  1806,  and  by  Amoni,  1880.  A  new  edi- 
tion of  all  Celano's  works  is  due  to  Rev.  Edouard  d'Alencon,  Historian  of  the 
Capuchins'  Order. 

As  Thomas  described  St.  Francis'  canonization,  July  16,  1228,  but  not  the 
transfer  of  his  relics  to  the  church  of  St.  Francis  (Pentecost,  1230),  it  is  natural 
to  place  the  writing  of  the  Legend  between  these  two  dates,  especially  as  the 
above-named  Paris  manuscript  declares,  that  Gregory  IX,  February  25,  1229, 
received  the  Legend  and  gave  it  his  approval.  From  the  summer  of  1228  to 
March,  1229,  the  Papal  Curia  was  part  of  the  time  in  Perugia  and  part  of  the 
time  in  Assisi.  Tilemann  (in  the  work  already  referred  to,  p.  30)  has  cast 
some  doubt  upon  the  note  in  the  Parisian  manuscript. 

2  Bernard  of  Bessa,  Liber  de  laudibus  b.  Francisci:  "In  Francia  vero  frater 
Julianus,  scientia  et  sancti tate  conspicuus,  qui  etiam  nocturnale  Sancti  officium 
in  littera  et  cantu  posuit."     {Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  666.) 

3  Julian  of  Speier's  Legend  is  found  in  a  fragmentary  state  in  the  Bollandist's 
biography  of  St.  Francis,  A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  pp.  548-727.  A  complete  edition  is 
based  on  new  manuscripts  in  the  Analecta  Bollandiana,  XXI  (1902),  pp.  160- 
202.  As  Julian  describes  the  transfer  of  St.  Francis'  body  to  the  church  of 
St.  Francis,  1230,  but  does  not  mention  Brother  Elias  of  Cortona  as  General — • 
which  he  became  in  1232 — the  Legend  was  probably  written  in  the  interim. 
(See,  however,  Anal.  Boll.,  XXI,  p.  156,  in  which  its  time  of  composition  is 
placed  three  years  later.) 

Besides  the  prose  legends  we  possess  the  rhymed  Office  (historia  as  it  was 
called  in  the  literary  expression  of  the  Middle  Ages).  See  also  J.  E.  Weis, 
Julian  von  Speier  (Miinchen  1900)  and  "Die  Chorale  Julians  von  Speier  zu 
den  Reimoffizien  des  Franciskus-  und  Antoniusfestes  .  .  .  nach  Handschrijten 
herausgegeben"  (Munich,  1901). 


BIOGRAPHERS  355 

(c)  The  legend  in  verse  (Vita  metrica)  formerly  was  regarded 
as  identical  with  Julian  of  Speier's  rhymed  Office  or  was  ascribed 
to  an  Englishman  named  John  Cantius.  Edouard  d'Alencon  has 
lately  (Misc.  Franc,  IV,  pp.  33-34)  pointed  out  that  the  author 
of  the  Vita  metrica  is  Master  Henry  of  Pisa,  the  same  of  whom 
Salimbene  so  pleasantly  writes  that  he  "could  write,  draw  with 
colors,  which  some  call  illuminating,  write  notes,  compose  very 
beautiful  songs,  both  for  instruments  and  voice.  .  .  .  He  was  my 
singing  teacher  in  the  time  of  Pope  Gregory  the  Ninth.  .  .  .  Brother 
Henry  wrote  many  melodies  and  many  sequences.  He  wrote 
both  text  and  melody  to  Christe  Deus,  Christe  mens,  Christe  rex  et 
domine,  suggested  by  a  maid-servant's  song,  who  went  through 
the  cathedral  in  Pisa  and  sang:  E  tu  no  cure  de  me;  e  no  curaro 
dete!"1 

(d)  Liturgical  Legends.  The  short  legends  divided  into  the 
required  nine  lessons  were  used  for  the  choral  prayer.  Thomas 
of  Celano  himself  —  and  likewise  at  a  later  period  Bonaventure  — 
seemed  to  have  extracted  these  from  his  long  legend.  Denifle 
found  a  second  legend  for  liturgical  use  in  a  Dominican  Book  of 
Lessons  in  Toulouse;  the  nine  lessons  belonging  to  the  Feast  of 
St.  Francis  have  since  been  published  by  d'Alencon.  The  most 
remarkable  thing  about  them  is  perhaps  that  in  the  manuscript 
they  are  declared  to  be  taken  from  a  legend  which  begins  with 
the  words  Stella  matutina,  but  as  Bernard  of  Bessa  states  (Anal. 
Franc,  III,  p.  666),  the  legend  of  St.  Francis  beginning  with  the 
words  Quasi  stella  matutina  was  composed  by  the  Notary  Apostolic 
John  of  Ceperano.  And  according  to  Celano 's  Vita  prima  (pub. 
in  Act.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  125)  Gregory  IX,  for  his  discourse  at  the 
canonization  of  St.  Francis,  had  chosen  this  portion  of  scripture 
for  his  text  (Ecclesiasticus,  Cap.  50,  v.  7).  It  may  well  be  thought 
that  the  Notary  Apostolic  had  made  up  his  legends  about  St. 
Francis  as  a  sort  of  a  replica  of  the  Pope's  address,  and  that  we 
thus  have  the  remains  of  it  in  the  Book  of  Lessons  from  Toulouse. 
The  contents  otherwise  compares  with  Celano 's  Vita  prima.2  ■ 

1  Salimbene,  Parma  ed.,  p.  64.  The  poem  was  first  published  by  Cristofani 
(Prato,  1882). 

2  Edouard  d'Alencon:  Spicilegium  Franciscanum.  Legoida  brevis  Sancti 
Francisci  nunc  primum  edita  (Romae,  1899). 

Denifle  in  Archiv  fur  Litt.  u.  Kg.,  I  (1885),  p.  148. 

For  Thomas  of  Celano's  Legcnda  brevis,  see  Papini,  Notizie  sicure  delta  morte 
.  .  .  di  S.  Fr.  d'A.  2a  ed.  (Foligno,  1824),  pp.  239-243.  It  is  preceded  by 
a  letter  to  "Brother  Benedict"  (of  Arezzo?  See  Sabatier,  Collection.  Vol.  II, 
p.  xliv). 


356  AUTHORITIES 

2.   Brother  Leo  Group 

Among  the  first  disciples  there  is  none  who  plays  a  more  weighty 
or  a  more  effectual  role  than  Brother  Leo  for  futurity's  under- 
standing of  St.  Francis. 

He  was,  as  already  noted,  his  master's  secretary,  and  also  his 
confessor  and  most  intimate  confidant.  In  the  last  years  of  St. 
Francis'  life,  when  God's  Poor  Little  Man  from  Assisi  drew 
back  more  and  more  into  a  contemplative  life,  it  was  Leo  who 
was  the  connecting  link  between  him  and  the  surrounding  world. 
He  was  not  afraid  to  go  to  the  master  when  approach  was  for- 
bidden to  all  others. 

It  is  therefore  obvious  that  this  favorite  disciple  has  seen 
and  heard  much  which  others  neither  heard  nor  saw,  and  it  also 
follows  that  Brother  Leo  wished  to  preserve  these  his  reminiscences 
for  after  generations.  It  thus  came  about  that  he  began  to  write 
down  what  the  master  had  said  or  done  —  tarn  de  mandato  sancti 
patris  quarn  etiam  de  devotione  praedicti  fratris,  as  Angelo  Clareno 
(d.  1337)  has  rightly  seen  and  said,  "as  much  by  command  of  the 
holy  father  as  inspired  by  the  personal  devotion  Brother  Leo 
nourished  for  St.  Francis."1  For  the  space  of  a  hundred  years, 
down  to  the  days  of  Hubert  of  Casale  (about  1259-1338),  Brother 
Leo's  descriptions  and  the  legends  emanating  directly  or  indirectly 
from  him  and  his  circle  kept  alive  the  holy  fire  from  the  first 
days  of  the  Order  in  the  hearts  of  the  young. 

The  legends  in  which  Brother  Leo  has  a  direct  part  are  two: 
Legenda  trium  sociorum  and  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda. 
The  three  compilations  of  a  later  date  rest  more  or  less  on  his 
observations:  Speculum  perfectionis,  Legenda  antiqua,  and  Actus 
b.  Francisci  ("Fioretti").2 

As  a  companion  piece  to  Legenda  trium  sociorum  comes  the 
legend  whose  author  the  Bollandists  term  the  "Anonymous  one 
from  Perugia,"  and  whom  I  have  also  assigned  to  this  group. 

a.    Legenda  trium  sociorum,  "  The  Legend  of  the 
Three  Brothers" 

Between  Celano's  first  biography  of  St.  Francis  and  the  other 
legends  dependent  on  it  and  the  appearance  of  the  group  of  writ- 

1  Archiv  fiir  Lilt.  u.  Kirchengesch.,  Ill,  p.  168. 

2  Furthermore  Brother  Leo  has  written  a  biography  of  his  friend  Brother 
Giles  (Salimbene,  Chronica,  p.  322)  and  took  part  in  the  writing  of  the  Legend 
of  St.  Clara.  See  Cozza  Luzi  in  Bollettino  delta  societa  umbra  di  storia  patria, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  417-426). 


BIOGRAPHERS  357 

ings  which  have  their  origin  in  Brother  Leo  of  Assisi  and  his 
friends  there  is  an  important  occurrence:  Brother  Elias  of  Cortona' s 
Generalship  and  abrupt  fall.1  Even  those  who  hitherto  had  been 
adherents  of  this  brilliant  man,  who  was,  however,  a  danger  to  the 
Order  at  last,  could  not  avoid  seeing  what  he  bore  on  his  shield, 
and  that,  if  he  had  obtained  permission  to  carry  out  his  own 
ideas,  there  soon  would  have  been  an  end  of  Franciscanism.  Due 
to  the  influence  of  the  recognition  of  this  fact,  so  powerfully 
impressed  by  the  Pope's  anathema  against  Elias,  it  is  that  refuge 
was  sought  in  a  return  to  the  spirit  of  olden  times.  At  the  General 
Chapter  in  Genoa,  1244,  it  was  determined  to  invite  all  who  had 
anything  to  tell  about  St.  Francis  to  collect  their  recollections 
and  send  them  in  to  the  newly  chosen  General  of  the  Order,  Cres- 
centius  of  Jesi. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  invitation  there  came  two  years  later 
from  the  little  convent  of  Greccio  in  the  valley  of  Rieti  a  selection 
of  such  sketches,  written  down  by  three  close  friends  of  St.  Francis; 
namely,  Brother  Leo  and  Brother  Rufino,  both  of  Assisi,  together 
with  Brother  Angelo  Tancredi  from  Rieti.  A  letter  which  accom- 
panied these  papers,  addressed  to  Crescentius  and  dated  August, 
1246,  named  as  additional  collaborators  in  the  work  a  number 
of  the  first  Brothers  of  the  Order,  such  as  Brother  Philip,  the 
Clares'  Visitator,  Brother  Illuminato  from  Rieti,  Brother  Masseo 
from  Marignano,  together  with  another  otherwise  unknown 
Brother  John,  who  joined  in  the  work  because  he  had  known 
intimately  Brother  Bernard  of  Quintavalle  (d.  1242)  and  Brother 
Giles  (Lat.  Egidius)  —  the  first  two  disciples  who  had  joined  St. 
Francis. 

In  the  letter  the  authors  expressed  themselves  in  the  following 
way  on  the  scope  of  their  work: 

"We  who,  although  unworthy  of  it,  have  lived  for  a  long  time 
along  with  St.  Francis,  have,  with  truth  for  our  guide,  wished  to 
present  to  your  Holiness"  —  i.e.,  Crescentius  —  "a  selection  of 
his  many  actions  which  we  have  either  seen  ourselves  or  have 
obtained  through  other  Brothers-,   especially"    (here  follow  the 

1  It  will  undoubtedly  be  of  interest  to  have  a  list  of  the  first  Generals  of  the 
Order  at  hand.    I  therefore  give  them  here: 

Vicars  (while  St.  Francis  lived):  Pietro  dei  Cattani,  September  29,  1220- 
March  10,  1221,  when  he  died.  Elias  of  Cortona  succeeded  and  was  Vicar  to 
June  16  (Pentecost),  1227.  Generals:  Johannes  Parenti,  June  16,  1227-1232; 
Elias  of  Cortona,  123  2-1 239;  Albert  of  Pisa,  1239;  Aymon  of  Faversham,  1240- 
1244;  Crescentius  of  Jesi,  1244-1247;  John  of  Parma,  1247-1257;  St.  Bona- 
venture,  125  7-1 2  74. 


358  AUTHORITIES 

names.  The  original  text,  as  one  will  see  below,  has  the  words 
per  alios  sanctos  fratres,  "through  other  Holy  Brothers."  The 
difficulty,  which  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Leo,  Angelo  and  Rufino 
first  speak  of  themselves  and  then  of  "other"  holy  Brothers,  is 
solved  perhaps  best  by  taking  sanctos  as  in  apposition  to  fratres 
and  to  understand  it  thus:  "through  other  Brothers;  namely,  the 
holy  Brother  Philip,"  etc.  But  if  one  was  in  doubt  about  the 
authenticity  of  the  letter,  I  would  affirm  that  this  expression, 
"Brother  Leo,  Brother  Rufino  and  Brother  Angelo  wrote  it  down," 
might  make  one  suspect  a  falsifier,  who  unwittingly  betrayed  him- 
self by  having  the  authors  of  the  Legend  sign  themselves  for  that 
which  they  were  in  the  eyes  of  him,  a  writer  of  a  later  period: 
sancti  fratres.1) 

"It  is  not  sufficient  for  us"  —  thus  the  writers  go  on  to  say  — 
"to  tell  of  miracles  alone,  of  which  indeed  holiness  does  not  con- 
sist, but  which  can  indicate  its  presence,2  but  we  wish  to  show  the 
holy  way  of  living  and  pious  regard  and  desires  of  our  most  holy 
father  Francis,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  the  highest  God  and  to 
the  edification  of  those  who  will  follow  after  him.  Which,  how- 
ever, we  do  not  wish  to  write  in  the  form  of  a  legend,  as  there  are 
already  written  legends  of  his  life  and  the  works  of  wonder  which 
the  Lord  let  him  perform.  But  we  have  plucked  the  flowers  in 
the  meadow  which  seemed  to  us  the  fairest;  we  do  not  offer 
therefore  a  continuous  story,  for  we  have  omitted  much  which  in 
the  above-named  legends  is  written  both  truthfully  and  in  good 
style;  and  if  it  meets  your  approval  our  little  work  can  be  added 
thereto.  We  believe,  indeed,  that  if  the  honorable  gentlemen 
who  wrote  the  above-named  legends  had  known  what  we  now 
are  about  to  tell,  they  would  not  have  let  it  pass  by,  but  would 
have  desired  to  have  written  down  at  least  a  part  thereof  in  their 
beautiful  style,  and  thus  handed  it  down  to  the  memory  of  coming 
generations."3 

1  The  word  sanctos  we  may  believe  was  inserted  by  a  copyist.  The  Brothers 
themselves  never  gave  the  Legend  the  title  Legenda  trium  sociorum,  as  it  is 
now  found  in  the  manuscripts. 

2  This  expression  is  from  Thomas  of  Celano;  mir acuta,  quae  sanctitatem  non 
faciunt,  sed  ostendunt,  he  says  in  his  Vita  prima,  I,  p.  16. 

3  Reverendo  in  Christo  patri  fratri  Crescendo,  Dei  gratia  Generali  ministro, 
frater  Leo,  frater  Ruffinus  et  frater  Angelus,  olim  socii,  licet  indigni,  beatissimi 
patris  Francisci,  reverentiam  in  Domino  debitam  et  devotam. 

Cum  de  mandato  proximi  praeteriti  capituli  generalis  et  vestro  teneantur 
fratres  signa  et  prodigia  beatissimi  patris  Francisci,  quae  scire  vel  reperire 
possunt,  vestrae  paternitati  dirigere;  visum  est  nobis,  qui  secum  licet  indigni 
fuimus  diutius  conversati,  pauca  de  multis  gestis  ipsius,  quae  per  nos  vidimus, 


BIOGRAPHERS  359 

This  preface  is  found  in  all  the  fourteen  manuscripts  of  the 
Legend  which  have  been  preserved  for  us,  and  of  which  the  oldest 
belongs  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  fourteenth  century.  There  are 
also  found  five  manuscripts  of  the  Legend  in  Italian  translations. 

All  these  manuscripts  present  the  highly  impressive  peculiarity 
that  the  writing,  the  Legend,  which  in  all  of  them  follows  the  pref- 
ace, and  which  in  nearly  all  of  them  is  practically  the  same,  does 
not  seem  on  a  little  closer  examination  to  answer  to  what  we  had 
a  right  to  expect  from  this  work  according  to  the  authors'  own 
statements.  In  the  preface  the  reader  is  promised,  not  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  life,  but  a  collection  of  flowers;  not  a  continuous  relation 
like  that  of  Thomas  of  Celano  or  of  Julian  of  Speier,  but  various 
minor  traits  of  the  pious  ways  of  St.  Francis,  and  finally  nothing 
we  already  knew  from  earlier  works,  but  absolutely  new  things 
never  before  published  —  de  Vinedit,  as  the  French  say.  If  Thomas 
of  Celano  had  been  St.  Francis'  Plato,  the  Brothers  should  now 
want  to  write  a  collection  of  Memorabilia  in  the  spirit  of  Xenophon. 
Had  the  poet  of  Dies  irce  been  the  great  follower  of  Christ,  John, 
they  would  have  wished  to  write  his  Logia. 

One  had  every  right  to  expect  all  this  from  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend  —  and  what  do  we  find  there?  Almost  exactly  the  oppo- 
site! Of  the  eighteen  chapters  of  the  Legend  the  first  eight 
concern  themselves  with  the  history  of  Francis'  youth  and  con- 


vel  per  alios  sanctos  fratres  scire  potuimus,  et  specialiter  per  fratrem  Philippum 
visitatorem  pauperum  Dominarum,  fratrem  Illuminatum  de  Reate,  fratrem 
Masseum  de  Marignano,  et  fratrem  Joannem,  socium  venerabilis  fratris  yEgidii, 
qui  plura  de  his  habuit  de  eodem  sancto  fratre  ^Egidio  et  sanctae  memoriae 
lratre  Bernardo,  primo  socio  beati  Francisci,  sanctitati  vestrae,  veritate  praevia, 
intimare;  non  contenti  narrare  solum  miracula,  quae  sanctitatem  non  faciunt, 
sed  ostendunt,  sed  etiam  sanctae  conversationis  eius  insignia  et  pii  beneplaciti 
voluntatem  ostendere  cupientes,  ad  laudem  et  gloriam  summi  Dei  et  dicti  patris 
sanctissimi,  atque  aedificationem  volentium  vestigia  eius  imitari.  Quae  tamen 
per  modum  legendae  non  scribimus,  cum  dudum  de  vita  sua  et  miraculis  quae 
per  eum  Dominus  operatus  est,  sint  confectae  legendae.  Sed  velut  de  amoeno 
prato  quosdam  flores,  qui  arbitrio  nostro  sunt  pulchriores,  excerpimus  con- 
tinuantem  historiam  non  sequentes,  sed'multa  seriose  relinquentes,  quae  in 
praedictis  legendis  sunt  posita  tarn  veridico  quam  luculento  sermone;  quibus 
haec  pauca,  quae  scribimus,  poteritis  facere  inseri,  si  vestra  discretio  viderit 
esse  iustum.  Credimus  enim,  quod  si  venerab  libus  viris,  qui  praefatas  con- 
fecerunt  legendas  haec  nota  fuissent,  ea  minime  praeterissent,  nisi  saltern  pro 
parte  ipsa  suo  decorassent  eloquio,  et  posteris  ad  memoriam  reliquissent. 
Semper  integre  valeat  vestra  sancta  paternitas  in  Domino  Jesu  Christo,  in 
quo  nos  filios  vestros  devotos  sanctitati  vestrae  recommendamus  humiliter  et 
devote.  Data  in  loco  Graecii,  III  idibus  augusti,  anno  Domini  MCCXLVI. 
{Acta  SS.y  Oct.  II,  p.  723.) 


360  AUTHORITIES 

version.  The  next  four  treat  of  the  reception  of  the  first  eleven 
Brothers  into  the  Order,  the  tribulations  in  the  earliest  days  of 
the  Order,  and  Innocent  Ill's  approval  of  the  Rules.  In  the  next 
two  chapters  is  a  sketch  of  the  first  convent  and  the  way  in  which 
the  Chapters  of  the  Order  were  held.  The  fifteenth  chapter  tells 
of  the  death  of  the  first  Protector  of  the  Order  and  the  choice  of  a 
new  one,  the  sixteenth  of  the  Brothers'  first  departure  on  a  Euro- 
pean mission.  Two  concluding  chapters — which,  moreover,  in  one 
of  the  manuscripts  are  put  into  one  —  contain  finally  the  descrip- 
tion of  Francis'  death,  of  his  stigmatization  (in  this  inverted  order) 
and  canonization,  and  this  brings  the  Legend  of  the  Three  Brothers 
to  an  end.  It  must  be  remarked  that  this  text  is  almost  the 
absolute  reverse  of  the  author's  promise  in  the  letter  to  Cres- 
centius.  The  Brothers  had  wished  to  bring  a  collection  of  flowers 
—  and  here  we  stand  before  a  legend  which,  if  incomplete,  is  in 
good  chronological  sequence.  They  had  wished  to  bring  new 
material,  and  here,  although  with  many  characteristic  additions 
and  minor  features,  is  told  the  same  history  of  the  merchant's  son 
from  Assisi,  of  his  conversion  and  life  with  his  first  disciples,  all 
which  we  already  knew  from  Thomas  of  Celano  and  Julian  of 
Speier.  Here  were  missing  finally  the  whole  mass  of  little  traits 
from  St.  Francis'  inner  life,  all  that  which  the  author  had  promised 
under  the  name  sanctae  conversationis  eius  insignia,  and  which  one 
could  expect  from  those  who,  "although  unworthy  thereof,"  had 
been  with  him  in  his  most  sacred  moments,  in  his  most  secret 
hours,  who  had  followed  him  to  the  grotto  at  Fonte  Colombo, 
where  he  with  fast  and  prayer  wrote  the  Rule  of  the  Order,  and 
who  at  his  side  had  climbed  up  Mt.  Alverna  and  had  seen  him 
come  down  therefrom,  marked  on  hands  and  feet  by  the  miracle 
of  the  Lord!  Was  this  really  all  that  the  whole  body  of  Francis' 
most  trusted  friends  —  Leo,  Rufino,  Angelo,  Bernard,  Philip, 
Illuminato,  Masseo  and  Giles  —  could  tell  the  world  about  their 
beloved  master  and  glorified  spiritual  father?  For  that  the  two 
miserable  chapters  at  the  end  could  not  pass  for  a  fulfilment  of 
the  promises  of  the  preface,  and  that  they  even  did  not  originally 
belong  to  the  Legend,  is  evident  from  the  difference  in  style  and 
their  undoubted  dependence  on  Bonaventure's  book  of  1263  on 
St.  Francis.  These  two  chapters  were  clearly  enough  only  written 
as  a  makeshift  —  as  one  temporarily  throws  boards  over  a  house 
that  has  not  been  sufficiently  advanced  in  building  to  resist  the 
coming  of  winter. 
The  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  as  it  lies  before  us  in  manuscript, 


BIOGRAPHERS  361 

seems  also  to  have  been  a  fragment.  But  how  could  it  have  been 
that?  Is  it  conceivable  that  the  Brothers  became  weary  of  their 
work  when  half-finished,  that  they  were  tired,  that  they  did  not 
desire  to  finish  the  wreath  of  flowers  in  honor  of  St.  Francis,  which 
was  to  be  woven  around  the  Master's  name  a  hundred  years  later 
by  other  hands,  by  him  or  by  them  who  wrote  Fioretti  ? 

The  matter  stood  thus  undecided,  when  the  Bollandist  Suysken 
in  1768,  in  the  second  October  section  of  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  pub- 
lished the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  according  to  a  manuscript  in 
Louvain.  The  question  stood  as  before  —  or  rather  it  was  not 
disposed  of.  All  manuscripts  contain  the  Legend  in  this  form  — 
who  then  could  form  any  other  conclusion  than  that  we  have  here 
not  only  the  authentic  but  also  the  complete  work? 

And  yet  there  was  one  thing  which  pointed  in  the  other  direc- 
tion. In  Wadding,  the  celebrated  Irish  annalist  who  wrote  in  the 
first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  also  in  the  Floren- 
tine chronicler,  Mariano  (d.  1527),  used  by  him,  quotations 
from  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  occur  several  times,  which  are 
not  found  in  the  text  published  by  the  Bollandists.  Suysken 
satisfies  himself  with  the  idea  that  Wadding  may  have  quoted 
wrongly,  but  the  thought  also  was  in  his  mind  that  Wadding  (or 
his  source  Mariano)  might  have  known  another  Legenda  triuni 
sociorum  than  the  only  one  which  was  now  before  him.1 

In  these  quotations  of  Wadding  it  is  remarkable  that  several  of 
them  seem  to  be  so  good  that  they  would  accord  with  a  legend 
of  the  quality  which  would  be  expected  from  their  hands  after 
the  Brothers'  letter  to  Crescentius.  There  was,  for  example,  a 
description  of  how  St.  Francis  in  his  eagerness  for  poverty  wanted 
to  tear  down  a  house  with  his  own  hands,  which  the  citizens  of 
Assisi  during  his  absence  had  built  for  the  use  of  the  Brothers. 
There  was  another  tale  of  how  Francis,  in  the  face  of  Cardinal 
Hugolin,  refused  to  assent  to  the  Brothers  in  his  Order  holding 
Church  preferments.  In  a  third  place  Wadding  relates  that 
Francis  in  Bologna,  in  the  same  way  as  at  Portiuncula,  commanded 
all  the  Brothers  to  desert  the  convent  which  was  built  for  them. 
Finally,  following  always  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  we  are  told 
how  St.  Francis  in  his  last  moments  had  greeted  death  with  the 
words:   "Be  welcome,  Sister  Death."  2 

1  Omnino  oportet  Waddingum  habuisse  Legendam,  trium  sociorum  nomine 
(forte  non  recte)  inscriptam,  diversam  a  nostro;  aut,  quod  verisimilius  est, 
eosdem  ab  aliis  perperam  citatos  legisse.     A.  SS.,  Oct.  II,  p.  858,  n.  238. 

2  Wadding,  Annates,  1218,  n.  10,  1219,  n.  1-2,  1220,  n.  15,  1224,  n.  28.  See 
also  1210,  n.  49,  and  1219,  n.  3. 


362  AUTHORITIES 

With  these  and  many  other  similar  extracts  before  our  eyes  it 
was  impossible  that  one  or  another  would  not  finally  recollect 
those  words  in  the  letter  of  the  Brothers  from  Greccio  concerning 
St.  Francis'  devout  conduct  of  life.  Quotations  in  Wadding  gave 
a  brief  commentary  both  on  one  or  the  other  of  these  expressions, 
for  what  was  Francis'  "  pious  intentions,"  his  pii  beneplaciti 
voluntas,  other  than  the  adherence  to  the  evangelical  poverty, 
whose  devoted  lover  he  showed  himself  both  during  the  occur- 
rences in  Bologna  and  the  incidents  at  Portiuncula? 

Led  by  such  and  similar  indications  it  was  that  Paul  Sabatier, 
in  his  study  of  the  Bollandists'  work  on  St.  Francis,  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  as  it  exists  in  the 
manuscripts  was  really  a  fragment,  a  torso.  In  his  Vie  de  Saint 
Franqois  dy  Assise  (Paris,  1894)  he  writes  on  page  lxiii:  "It  is 
clear  that  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  as  we  now  have  it,  is  only 
a  fragment  of  the  original,  which,  without  doubt,  was  put  together, 
arranged,  and  much  abridged  by  the  authorities  of  the  Order 
before  it  was  put  into  circulation."  And  he  remarks,  too,  that 
Crescentius  of  Jesi,  to  whom  it  was  sent,  was  not  the  most  zealous 
adherent  of  the  intransigent  Franciscanism,  such  as  Leo  and  his 
friends  upheld. 

Sabatier  was  here  —  as  so  often  —  unjustly  suspicious.  The 
state  of  affairs  was  that  the  Legend's  incompleteness  was  well 
known,  and  Sabatier  had,  moreover,  the  happy  fortune  in  a  late 
Franciscan  work  of  compilation  of  nearly  finding  the  missing 
part  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend. 

The  question  concerned  the  work  written  about  1445  and  first 
issued  in  Venice,  1504,  Speculum  vitae  S.  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus. 
Out  of  this  formless  book  Sabatier  threw  out  a  whole  quantity  of 
material  of  all  sorts  —  chapters  of  St.  Bonaventure,  devout  memo- 
randa of  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  a  whole  quantity  of  chapters 
which  appeared  to  be  the  Latin  text  of  the  Fioretti,  some  Franciscan 
prayers,  with  much  else.  What  was  now  left  strongly  recall  in 
style  and  thought  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend.  And  what  made 
him  certain  of  his  case  was  that  in  this  heart  of  the  Speculum 
there  occurred  no  less  than  nineteen  times  an  expression  in  which 
the  authors  constantly  referred  to  themselves  and  which  reads: 
nos  qui  cum  ipso  fuimus,  "we  who  were  with  him."  For  was  not 
this  precisely  the  same  which  the  Three  Brothers  in  their  letters 
to  Crescentius  had  used  to  designate  themselves  —  that  it  was 
they  who,  in  spite  of  their  unworthiness,  had  known  St.  Francis 
the  longest  and  t-he  best,  visum  est  nobis,  qui  secum  licet  indigni 


BIOGRAPHERS  363 

fuimus  diutius  conversati  ?  The  coincidence  of  the  two  expressions 
was  striking  and  convincing  for  Sabatier.  There  is  found  in  the 
printed  Speculum  vitae  (from  Folio  Sb  to  Folio  136a)  undoubtedly 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  missing  pages  of  the  Legend.1 

Full  of  these  thoughts,  it  next  happened  that  Sabatier,  in  the 
Mazarin  Library  in  Paris,  found  a  manuscript,  No.  1743,  in  which 
the  very  chapters  which  he  himself  separated  from  the  Speculum 
vitae  are  found  joined  together  under  the  title  Speculum  perfectionis 
fratris  minoris,  "Mirror  of  Perfection  of  The  Friar  Minor."  How 
Sabatier  was  led  by  this  discovery  into  new  paths,  how  he,  with  a 
copyist's  error  in  the  dating  of  the  manuscript  as  a  starting  point, 
developed  a  whole  theory  about  the  Speculum  perfectionis  as  the 
oldest  Franciscan  legend,  written  in  May,  1227,  in  Portiuncula 
by  Brother  Leo — to  this  we  will  refer  later.  In  fact  he  was  right, 
as  far  as  he,  in  the  Legends  of  the  Speculum,  saw  the  remains  of 
the  complete  Legenda  trium  sociorum.  And  from  this  foundation 
the  task  of  reproducing  the  Legend  was  also  taken  up  by  two 
Italians,  students  of  St.  Francis,  the  two  Franciscans  Marcellino  da 
Civezza  and  Teofilo  Domenichelli.  Their  work,  which  appeared 
in  Rome,  1889,2  had  the  following  interesting  history. 

About  the  year  1855  Stanislao  Melchiorri,  then  Annalist  of  the 
Franciscan  Order,  received  a  very  old  manuscript  sent  him  as  con- 
taining an  Italian  translation  of  the  Legend  of  the  Three  Brothers. 
On  comparing  this  translation  with  the  Bollandists'  edition  of 
the  original  text  (and  with  Rinaldi's  edition  of  183 1),  it  appeared 
that  the  Italian  legend  in  the  first  place  did  not  have  the  last  two 
chapters  of  these  editions,  and  in  the  second  place  offered  in  their 
stead  a  whole  quantity  of  highly  important  additions.  Carried 
away  as  Melchiorri  was  in  the  prevalent  view  of  the  Legend,  as 
only  identical  with  the  fragment  contained  in  the  manuscript,  he 
regarded  these  additions  as  interpolations  and  edited  them  with 
a  preface,  in  which  he  declared  that  the  translator,  in  order  to 
complete  the  Legend,  had  added  to  it  a  number  of  chapters,  taken 
from  Thomas  of  Celano,  St.  Bonaventure,  Bartholomew  of  Pisa 
and  others.  But  he  could  not  maintain  this  theory  of  the  origin 
of  the  individual  portions.3 

1  Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Fr.,  pp.  lxx-lxxi. 

2  La  Leggenda  di  S.  Francesco,  scritta  da  tre  suoi  compagni  (Legenda  trium 
sociorum)  pubblicata  per  la  prima  volta  nella  vera  sua  integrity  dai  Padri 
Marcellino  da  Civezza  e  Teofilo  Domenichelli  dei  Minori.  Roma,  MDCCCXCIX. 

3  The  book  appeared  in  1856  in  Recanati  with  the  title,  Leggenda  di  S.  Fran- 
cescod' Assist  scritta  dalli  suoi  compagni  che  tutfhora  conversavano  con  lid.  In  1862 
it  was  published  in  France  with  the  less  correct  title,  Legende  de  S.  Francois 


364  AUTHORITIES 

According  to  a  note  in  the  manuscript,  the  legend  was  written 
in  the  year  1557  by  the  oratorian,  Muzio  Achillei,  after  another 
much  older  manuscript.1  Muzio  is  known  in  history  as  a  disciple 
of  St.  Philip  Neri  and  a  friend  of  the  church-historian  Baronius, 
who  often  made  use  of  his  assistance. 

The  language  from  the  chronological  standpoint  might  be 
assigned  to  the  same  period  as  the  Fioretti;  Zambrini,  who  was 
misled  by  the  editor's  mistaken  conception  of  the  date  of  the 
work  as  being  later  than  the  day  of  Bartholomew  of  Pisa  (1385), 
could  not  help  finding  "much  of  the  simplicity  of  the  fourteenth 
century  therein." 2  In  reality  the  language  of  the  translation  with 
its  frequent  Latinisms,  its  Latin  use  of  the  subjunctive  after 
quando  (where  the  Italian  now  has  the  indicative) ,  bears  the  clear 
imprint  of  a  century  when  the  new  language  of  the  people  had 
not  freed  itself  from  Latin  influence. 

And  now  it  appeared,  that  with  this  translation  as  a  basis, 
it  was  possible  to  attempt  a  reconstruction  of  the  Latin  Three 
Brothers'  Legend  in  its  integrity.  The  often  servile  fidelity  of 
the  translator,  that  led  him  to  repeat  the  Latin  text  word  for  word, 
made  the  work  easy.  The  majority  of  the  work  was  —  as  was  to 
be  expected  —  to  be  found  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis  brought 
to  the  light  by  Sabatier  (the  French  scholar's  edition  of  this  work, 
1898,  gave  great  assistance).  By  a  simple  translation  of  the 
Italian  legend  into  Latin,  there  appeared  a  whole  quantity  of 
chapters  which  either  plainly  agreed  with  the  text  in  the  Speculum 
or  at  any  rate  originated  therefrom.  Sixteen  of  the  seventy-nine 
chapters  of  the  Melchiorri  legends  were  identical  with  Chapters 
I-XVI  in  the  manuscript  legend,  fifty-seven  agreed  with  chapters 
in  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  only  six  could  have  been  derived 
from  other  sources,  apparently  from  Thomas  of  Celano. 

That  the  Three  Brothers  thus  in  minor  part  had  copied  one  or 
several  of  the  earlier  biographies  of  St.  Francis  was  not  remark- 
able; they  had  done  this  and  in  a  much  greater  degree  in  what  I, 

d' Assise  par  ses  trois  compagnons;  manuscrit  dn  XII Pe  Steele  publie  pour  la 
premiere  fois  (!)  par  M.  Vabbe  Symon  de  Latreiche.  A  second  edition  of  this 
translation  appeared  in  1865  (Paris,  Lethielleux). 

1  The  notice  reads: 

Ad  lectorem.  Superiora  haec  divi  Francisci  gesta  e  vetustiori  quodam 
codice  manu  mea  descripsi  Mutius  Achilleus  (a)  Sancto  Severino,  rogatu 
venerandi  Patris  Felicis  .  .  .  recentioris  Ordinis  Franciscanorum  (quos  Ca- 
puccinos  appellant).  Septemped.  anno  a  Christi  Salvatoris  Nostri  natalibus 
MDLXXVII,  VIII  Kai.  ianuarii. 

2sente  molto  della  semplicita  del  trecento.  (Zambrini:  Le  opere  volgari 
a  stampa  dei  secoli  XIII  e  XIV.     Ed.  4,  Bologna,  1884,  p.  563.) 


BIOGRAPHERS  365 

hereafter,  will  call  the  first  part  of  their  legend  (Capp.  I-XVI). 
It  is  still  more  remarkable  to  see  how  completely  the  second  part 
of  the  legend  now  found  or  rediscovered  answered  to  what  the 
Three  Brothers  had  promised  in  the  letter  to  Crescentius.  Here 
they  write  in  most  characteristic  detail  what  they  and  no  other  had 
seen  and  heard,  here  they  over  and  over  again  repeat  their  nos 
qui  cum  eo  fuimus,  "we  who  were  with  him,"  here  we  have  the 
light  and  perfume  of  the  flowers  from  the  oak  woods  of  Umbria, 
from  the  loneliness  of  the  valley  of  Rieti,  from  the  cliffs  of  Mt. 
Alverna,  as  the  Brothers  had  promised.  A  glance  at  the  titles  of 
the  chapters  was  enough  to  show,  that  here  were  really  found  all 
those  relations  of  St.  Francis'  " devout  conduct  of  life"  and 
"  pious  intentions,"  whose  existence  we  had  only  been  able  to 
suspect  hitherto  through  references  of  Mariano  and  Wadding. 

All  this,  however,  did  not  say  that  the  attempts  at  reconstruction 
of  da  Civezza  and  Domenichelli  should  be  regarded  as  completely 
successful.  As  Tilemann 1  has  remarked,  the  reconstructed  chap- 
ters were  of  a  more  meagre,  more  condensed,  less  freely  descriptive 
character  than  the  existing  pieces  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis. 
One  is  tempted  to  lay  the  blame  for  this  on  the  old  Italian  trans- 
lator, whom  we  can  suppose  now  and  then  to  have  lightened  his 
work  by  condensing  the  narrations.  What  else  was  there  to  pre- 
vent one  from  inserting  chapters  from  the  Speculum  in  those  places 
where  the  Italian  text  makes  it  evident  that  they  belonged  in  the 
original  legend? 

A  question  still  remains:  How  did  it  come  about  that  the  Three 
Brothers'  Legend  has  thus  been  divided  into  two  halves,  of  which 
the  one  invariably  appears  in  all  the  manuscripts  accompanied 
by  the  preface,  which,  in  consequence  of  the  division,  so  poorly 
suits  it,  while  the  other  half  portion  has  led,  as  it  were,  a  subter- 
ranean existence  and  only  in  the  most  recent  days  has  come  out 
into  the  light?  The  answer  to  this  question  can  be  better  given 
in  connection  with  the  treatment  of  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita 
secunda. 

Here  we  can  only  refer  to  the  fact  that  this  work  in  more  recent 
times,  contemporaneous  with  the  production  of  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend  in  its  full  scope,  has  raised  for  itself  critical  and — it  may  as 
well  be  said — hypercritical  voices,  that  desired  to  rob  the  beauti- 
ful old  legend  of  all  its  value.  It  is  especially  the  Bollandist,  van 
Ortroy,  who,  with  an  incredible  display  of  learning,  has  sought  to 

1  Heinrich  Tilemann :  "  Speculum  perfectionis  und  Legenda  trium  sociorum" 
Leipsic,  1902,  pp.  134-148. 


366  AUTHORITIES 

show  that  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  was  a  compilation  in  which 
such  late  authors  as  Bonaventure  (1263)  and  Bernard  of  Bessa 
(about  1290)  were  utilized.  The  letter  to  Cre^.  entius,  according 
to  van  Ortroy,  certainly  does  not  belong  where  it  now  stands,  but 
on  the  other  hand  belongs  to  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda, 
which  upon  the  whole  should  be  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend. 
This  inexpressibly  unreasonable  hypothesis  was  powerfully  advo- 
cated by  Paul  Sabatier,  but  has  found  an  adversary  in  the  present 
Annalist  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  P.  Leonard  Lemmens.  Another 
Catholic  Franciscan  researcher,  S.  Minocchi,  sees  in  the  Legenda 
trium  sociorum  the  missing  work  of  John  of  Ceperano.  His  legend 
begins,  namely  (see  page  355),  with  the  words  Quasi  stella  matutina, 
and  only  one  of  the  manuscripts  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend 
has  a  prologue  beginning  with  these  words.1  Other  more  recent 
researchers,  such  as  Faloci-Pulignani,  stand  firmly  on  the  old 
ground,  that  the  first  part  is  the  whole  of  the  legend,  and  this, 
although  in  the  edition  brought  out  by  Faloci  after  a  manuscript 
in  Foligno  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  outside  of  the  sixteen 
traditionally  accepted  chapters  and  the  two  unaccepted  and 
added  ones,  there  are  still  found  two  chapters  of  the  second  part 
of  the  legend,  namely,  one  "of  the  Names  of  the  twelve  first 
Brothers"  (Da  Civezza-Domenichelli,  Cap.  XII)  and  one  concern- 
ing the  Portiuncula  indulgence  (Cap.  XLIX,  same  work,  in  a 
slightly  different  form).  Da  Civezza  and  Domenichelli  finally 
weaken  their  position  by  following  Sabatier  in  his  Speculum 
theories,  so  that  they  and  their  introduction  to  the  Legend  treat 
the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  of  1246  as  little  more  than  a  copy  of 
what  Leo  alone  had  already  written  in  1227.  Even  so  conservative 
a  critic  as  Gotz,  who  on  the  whole  is  friendly  to  tradition,  regards 
the  authenticity  of  the  Legend  as  impaired;  but  he  does  not  deny 
that  both  in  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  as  well  as  in  the  work  of 
the  nearly  related  anonymous  writer  from  Perugia  there  is  found 
valuable  material,  though,  according  to  his  view,  material  of  the 
second  rank.2 

1  Prcefulgidus  ut  lucifer  et  sicnt  stella  matutina,  into  quasi  sol  oriens  (MS.  Vatic, 
7339)-  Quasi  stella  matutina  is  not  found  here  a  single  time,  but  always  sicut. 
(See  Da  Civezza-Domenichelli,  p.  4,  n.  1.  Tilemann,  pp.  125-133.) 

2  Van  Ortroy,  Analecta  Bolland.,  XIX  (1900),  pp.  119-197;  Sabatier,  Revue 
historique,  LXXV  (1901);  Minocchi,  Archivio  storico  ital.,  XXIV,  pp.  249-362, 
and  Ntwvi  Studi  (1900),  pp.  100  et  seq.;  Lemmens,  Documenta  antiqua  franc, 
I  (Quaracchi,  1901),  pp.  26-27;  Faloci-Pulignani,  S.  Francisci  Legenda  trium 
sociorum,  Fulginice  (1898),  et  La  Leggenda,  etc.,  Rome,  1899  pp.  i-cxxxvi; 
Gotz,  Brieger's  Zeitschr.  f.  Kgsch.,  XXV  (1904),  pp.  34,  36-37,  40. 


BIOGRAPHERS  367 

b.    Anonymus  Perusinus 

When  the  Bollandists  in  their  time  commenced  their  studies  of 
the  history  of  St.  Francis,  they  had,  among  other  things  on  which 
to  exercise  their  judgment,  a  manuscript  from  Perugia,  out  of 
which  they  had  formerly  extracted  a  biography  of  the  third  dis- 
ciple of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  Brother  Giles.  (Acta  Sanctorum, 
April  23.)  In  this  manuscript  there  is  now  found  also  a  biography 
of  St.  Francis,  and  as  the  Legend  of  Giles  was  undoubtedly  a  Work 
of  Brother  Leo,1  Paplebroch  believes  that  the  legend  of  St.  Francis 
may  also  be  attributed  to  him. 

In  reality  this  legend  offers  numerous  and  close  points  of  com- 
parison with  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum.  Even  the  title  and 
preface  remind  us  of  this  work;   these  are  given  here: 

"Of  the  origin  and  doings  of  the  Friars  Minor  who  were  the  first 
in  the  Order  and  faithful  friends  (socii)  of  St.  Francis. 

"In  order  that  the  servants  of  the  Lord  may  not  be  ignorant 
of  the  ways  and  the  doctrine  of  holy  men,  by  which  it  is  possible 
to  progress  to  God,  so  have  I,  who  have  seen  their  actions,  heard 
their  words  and  also  been  their  disciple,  related  and  compiled 
several  of  the  doings  of  our  most  holy  Brother  Francis  and  of  some 
of  the  other  Brothers  in  the  beginning  of  the  Order."  2  These 
words  indicate  a  disciple  of  the  first  disciples.  Now  we  know  that 
Brother  Giles  lived  in  the  convent  of  Monte  Ripido  near  Perugia 
until  his  death  on  April  23,  1261;  was  it  therefore  unreasonable 
to  see  in  the  author  of  the  anonymous  legend  a  young  Brother  who 
—  like  Ubertino  of  Casale  in  Greccio  with  John  of  Parma  —  sat 
early  and  late  at  the  feet  of  the  Franciscan  veteran  "and  heard 
his  word  from  his  holiest  mouth  and  looked  into  his  angelic  coun- 
tenance"? 3  Thus  already  had  many  Brothers  even  from  distant 
England  sat  in  Portiuncula  at  the  feet  of  the  old  Brother  Leo  and 
heard  him  tell  of  the  perfect  joy,  and  how  he  and  St.  Francis  had 

1  Salimbene,  Chronica,  p.  322. 

2  De  inceptione  et  actibus  illorum  fratrum  minorum,  qui  fuerunt  primi  in 
religione  et  socii  beati  Francisci. 

Quoniam  servi  Domini  non  debent  ignorare  viam  et  doctrinam  sanctorum 
virorum  .  .  .  ideo  ad  honorem  Domini  et  aedificationem  legentium  et  audien- 
tium  ego,  qui  acta  eorum  vidi,  verba  audivi,  quorum  etiam  discipulus  fui, 
aliqua  de  actibus  beatissimi  fratris  nostri  Francisci  et  aliquorum  fratrum  qui 
venerunt  in  principio  religionis,  narravi  et  compilavi,  prout  mens  mea  divinitus 
fuit  docta. 

Anonymus  Perusinus  is  partly  given  in  Acta  Sanctorum,  Oct.  II,  pp.  549-560, 
and  completely  by  v.  Ortroy  in  Miscellanea  Francescana  IX  (1902),  pp.  33-48. 

3  Ubertino  of  Casale,  Arbor  vitae  crucifixae  (Venice,  1485),  lib.  V,  cap.  III. 


368  AUTHORITIES 

the  same  Breviary.  The  words  they  thus  heard  from  the  older 
Brothers  were  written  down.1  We  possess  still  several  of  these 
collections,  "  Words  of  Brother  Giles,"  "  Words  of  Brother  Leo," 
"Words  of  Conrad  of  Offida,"  and  we  later  find  similar  notes 
among  the  sources  of  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  in  whose  intro- 
duction we  accordingly  find  the  following:  "This  Work  is  com- 
piled from  what  the  friends  of  St.  Francis  wrote  or  had  written 
in  different  convents."  2  There  is  certainly  nothing  to  hinder 
us  from  seeing  in  Anonymus  Perusinus  (the  anonymous  writer 
of  Perugia)  a  repetition  of  Brother  Giles'  recollections,  and  un- 
doubtedly the  work,  when  we  omit  the  preface,  can  also  be  regarded 
as  an  extract  from  or,  as  Gotz  prefers,  a  sketch  of,  the  Three 
Brothers'  Legend.  With  his  usual  radicalism  van  Ortroy  has 
thrown  out  the  preface  as  a  forgery  intended  to  give  authority  to 
the  work.3  The  anonymous  writer  did  his  work  after  1290,  for 
Bernard  of  Bessa's  Legend  is  referred  to  in  it.  But  Brother  Giles 
died  April  23,  1261. 


c.  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda 

In  many  manuscripts  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  is  introduced 
by  the  following  words:  Haec  sunt  quaedam  scripta  per  tres  socios 
beati  Francisci,  "These  are  some  things  written  by  three  com- 
panions of  blessed  Francis."  Leo,  Angelo  and  Rufino  had  sent 
their  work  to  Crescentius  of  Jesi,  as  scripta,  as  written  documents, 
not  as  legends.  And  now  what  use  did  he  make  of  the  incom- 
parably valuable  material  that  thus  came  into  his  hands?  With 
the  complete  Legenda  trium  sociorum  before  one  it  is  easy  to  answer 
this  query.  The  three  Socii  had  written  in  their  preface,  that  "if 
the  honored  men  who  had  written  the  foregoing  legends  had 
known  these  things,  they  would  not  have  passed  them  by,  but 
would  have  adorned  them  in  their  own  beautiful  style."  4    There 

1  Ista  scripsit  frater  Garynus  de  Sedenefeld  ab  ore  fratris  Leonis.  (Eccle- 
ston,  Anal.  Fr.,  I,  p.  245.)  Supererant  adhuc  multi  de  sociis  .  .  .  de  quibus 
ego  vidi  et  ab  ipsis  audivi  quae  narro  (Angelo  Clareno,  ca.  1 245-1337,  Chron. 
Tribulationum,  quoted  in  Spec,  perf.,  ed.  Sab.,  p.  LXXIX,  n.  1).  Hanc  his- 
toriam  habuit  frater  Jacobus  de  Massa  ab  ore  fratris  Leonis  (Actus  B.  Francisci, 
IX,  71).  See  also  the  interpolation  between  chapters  71  and  72  of  Spec,  per- 
fectionis and  Actus  b.  Fr.,  cap.  65. 

2  Sabatier's  ed.,  p.  250. 

3  G6tz,  vol.  XXV,  pp.  40-47.  V.  Ortroy,  Anal.  Boll.,  XIX,  p.  123. 

4  Si  venerabilibus  viris  qui  praefatas  confecerunt  legendas,  haec  nota  fuissent 
ea  minime  praeterissent,  quin  .  .  .  sua  decorassent  eloquio. 


BIOGRAPHERS  369 

can  be  no  doubt  that  they  here  were  thinking  of  Thomas  of 
Celano,  whose  diction  they  also  in  another  place  in  the  preface 
had  characterized  as  "truth-inspiring  as  well  as  lucid."1  And 
Crescentius  followed  this  hint  —  he  handed  over  to  Thomas  of 
Celano  the  Three  Brothers'  work  for  revision.  The  result  of  this 
was  Celano 's  Vita  secunda,  which  to  all  intents  and  purposes  is 
the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  "  decorated,"  i.e.,  improved  in  style. 
Even  in  the  preface  we  can  see  how  the  Brothers'  simple  words 
concerning  their  relation  to  the  manuscript  appear  in  improved 
style  and  amplified  sentences.2  And  Thomas  of  Celano  regarded 
himself  as  the  Three  Brothers'  interpreter  to  this  degree,  that  the 
legend  is  not  produced  as  one  of  his  works  —  he  is  mentioned  in 
the  prologue  only  as  the  author  of  the  later  written  legends  —  but 
as  a  work  of  the  Brothers.  It  is  they  who,  without  naming  them- 
selves, are  writing  the  preface  in  the  plural  number;  to  them 
Crescentius  gave  the  commission  that  they,  out  of  their  long 
intercourse  with  St.  Francis,  should  write  down  his  gesta  and 
dicta,  his  action  and  words:  it  is  they  who  apologize  for  their  low 
ability,  being  only  ignorant  men.  At  any  rate  their  prologue 
closes  with  a  real  Celano-like  touch,  a  flattering  pun  on  the  name 
of  Crescentius  of  Jesi.3 

That  it  was  Brother  Thomas  of  Celano  who  applied  his  pen  to 
the  work,  is  not  only  perfectly  clear  on  the  basis  of  these  internal 
criticisms;  it  is  shown  by  a  series  of  proofs  that  we  cannot  reject. 
Thus  we  have  in  Salimbene,  whose  chronicle  was  written  1283- 
1284  and  who  had  known  both  Bernard  of  Quintavalle  and  Brother 
Leo:  (Crescentius)  " ordered  Brother  Thomas  of  Celano,  who  had 
written  the  first  legend  of  blessed  Francis,  that  he  should  write 
another  book,  because  many  things  had  been  found  out  about 
the  blessed  Francis  which  had  not  been  written,  and  he  wrote  a 
very  beautiful  book,  which  he  called  Memoriale  beati  Francisci  in 

1  lam  veridico  quam  luculento  sermone. 

2  Tres  Socii  in  preface:  Sanctce  conversationis  ejus  insignia  et  pii  beneplaciti 
voluntatem  ostendere  cupientes.  While  we  read  in  the  Prologue  of  Celano: 
Experimere  intendimus  et  vigilanti  studio  declarare  quae  sanctissimi  patris  tarn 
in  se  quam  in  suis  fuerit  voluntas  bona,  beneplacens,  et  perfecta  in  omni  ex- 
ercitio  discipline  ccelestis  et  summae  perfections  studio. 

3  Placuit  sanctas  universitati  olim  capituli  generalis  et  vobis,  reverendissime 
pater  .  .  .  parvitati  nostrae  injungere,  ut  gesta  vel  etiam  dicta  gloriosi  patris 
nostri  Francisci  nos  quibus  ex  assidua  conversatione  illius  et  mutua  famili- 
aritate  plus  ceteris  diutinis  experimentis  innotuit  ad  consolationem  praesentium 
et  posterorum  memoriam  scriberemus.  .  .  .  Memoria  nostra  velut  hominum 
rudium.  .  .  .  Ut  ea  quae  benedicta  vestro  judicio  docto  probantur,  cum  nomine 
vestro  vere  Crescentio  crescant  ubique.  .  .  .  Prologue  to  Vita  secunda. 

25 


370  AUTHORITIES 

desiderio  animae."  l  But  the  legend  which  under  the  name  of 
Vita  secunda  is  ascribed  to  Thomas  of  Celano  begins  as  follows: 
Incipit  memoriale  in  desiderio  animce  de  gestis  et  verbis  sanctissimi 
patris  nostri  Francisci.  (Amoni's  edition,  Rome,  1880,  pp.  7  et 
seq.)  Furthermore,  Jordanus  of  Giano  in  the  Chronicle,  which 
he  in  1262  as  an  old  man  dictated  to  Brother  Balduin  of  Branden- 
burg in  the  convent  in  Halberstadt,  expressly  names  Thomas  of 
Celano  as  author  both  of  a  first  and  then  of  a  second  legend  of 
St.  Francis.2  And  in  the  work  of  Brother  Arnold  of  Serrano, 
Chronica  XXIV  generalium  (before  1369),  as  well  as  in  Nicholas 
Glassberger's  Chronicle  (completed  1491),  both  of  which  are  founded 
on  important,  now  partly  vanished,  sources,  this  view  is  re- 
peated.3 

As  a  last  addition  to  these  proofs  of  Thomas  of  Celano 's 
authorship  or  co-operation  with  the  Brothers,  who  had  best 
known  St.  Francis,  we  have  the  beautiful  prayer  with  which 
the  Vita  secunda  ends,  and  in  which  the  Brothers  (socii) 
invoked    their    sainted   father  and    called   down  his  blessing  on 


1  Hie  praecepit  fratri  Thomae  de  Celano,  qui  primam  Legendam  beati 
Francisci  fecerat,  ut  iterum  scriberet  alium  librum,  eo  quod  multa  invenie- 
bantur  de  beato  Francisco,  quae  scripta  non  erant.  Et  scripsit  pulcherrimum 
librum,  tarn  de  miraculis  quam  de  vita,  quern  appellavit:  Memoriale  beati 
Francisci  in  desiderio  animae.     Salimbene,  Chronica,  Parma,  1857,  p.  60. 

2  et  Thoma  de  Celano  qui  legendam  sancti  Francisci  et  primam,  et  secundam 
postea,  conscripsit.  Jordanus  in  Analecta  Franciscana,  vol.  I,  Quaracchi,  1887, 
p.  8. 

3  Frater  Crescentius  autem,  Generalis  Minister,  praecepit  universis  fratribus, 
quod  sibi  in  scriptis  mitterent  quidquid  de  vita  et  prodigiis  sancti  Francisci 
veraciter  scirent.  .  .  .  Item,  eius  mandato  inducti,  frater  Leo,  confessor  beati 
Francisci,  frater  Angelus  et  frater  Rufinus,  quondam  socii  reverendi  Patris, 
multa,  quae  de  ipso  Patre  beato  viderant  et  a  fide  dignis  fratribus,  videlicet 
Philippo  Longo,  Illuminato  et  Massaeo  de  Marignano  et  a  fratre  Iohanne,  socio 
sancti  patris  ^Egidii,  audierunt,  per  modum  legendse  in  scriptis  redegerunt  et 
eidem  Generali  transmiserunt.  Alii  etiam  plurimi  quae  noverant  recollegerunt, 
et  sic  multa  magnalia,  quae  Sanctus  in  diversis  orbis  partibus  fecerat,  fuerunt 
publicata.  Et  postmodum  ex  mandato  eiusdem  Generalis  Ministri  et  generalis 
capituli  compilavit  frater  Thomas  de  Ceperano  (Celano)  primum  tractatum 
legendae  sancti  Francisci,  de  vita  scilicet  et  verbis  et  intentione  eius  circa  ea 
quae  ad  regulam  pertinent;  quae  dicitur  Legenda  Antiqua,  quam  dicto  Generali 
et  capitulo  destinavit  cum  prologo  qui  incipit:  "Placuit  sanctae  universitati 
vestrae."  Glassberger,  Anal.  Franc,  torn.  II,  pp.  68-69.  As  appears  from  the 
preceding  page,  note  3,  the  Preface  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda  begins  with  the 
exact  word  cited  by  Glassberger.  The  postmodum,  italicized  by  me.  gives  a 
good  connection  between  the  Document  and  Thomas  of  Celano's  work.  See 
also  Bernard  of  Bessa  (ca.  1290)  in  Anal.  Franc,  III,  666,  and  Chronica  XXIV 
generalium,  Anal.  Franc,  III,  276. 


BIOGRAPHERS  371 

"this  thy  son  who  now  and  formerly  wrote  piously  in  thy 
honor,"  and  who  "together  with  us  offers  and  dedicates 
to  thee  this  little  work."  l  Only  Thomas  of  Celano  can  be 
seen  in  this  reference.  That  the  poet  of  Dies  irae  —  as  Sabatier, 
prejudiced  against  him,  would  have  it  —  should  have  himself 
invented  this  prayer  to  give  thereby  to  his  work  the  most  reli- 
able possible  character,  this  is  —  as  Gotz  has  said  —  to  postu- 
late a  spiritual  impossibility.2  What  should  Thomas  and  the 
milder  party  represented  by  him,  according  to  Sabatier,  have 
gained  thereby,  since  the  Vita  secunda  in  spite  of  all  collab- 
oration extols  the  true  Franciscanism,  the  absolute  ideals  from 
the  first  days  of  the  Order,  just  as  strongly  as  does  the  Legenda 
triam  sociorum  ? 

The  legend  which  Thomas  of  Celano  sent  to  Crescentius  and 
which  therefore  was  written  in  the  course  of  less  than  one  year 
(August  12,  1246,  date  of  the  completion  of  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  July,  1247,  date  of  Crescentius'  removal  from  the  general- 
ship), consists  of  two  parts,  each  with  its  prologue;  the  second 
part,  which  has  the  wider  scope,  is  furthermore  divided  into  two 
books. 

We  should  now  expect  a  clear  parallelism  between  these 
two  parts  of  Celano's  new  work  and  the  two  parts  of  the 
Legenda  trium  sociorum.  The  first  part  of  Celano's  biography 
of  St.  Francis  answers  with  great  exactitude  to  the  first  part  of 
the   Three   Brothers'    Legend   (below  is  a  comparison  of  these 


1  Vita  secunda,  III,  143;  Oratio  sociorum:  Supplicamus  etiam  toto  cordis 
affectu,  benignissime  pater,  pro  illo  filio  tuo,  qui  nunc  et  olim  devotus  tua 
scripsit  praeconia.  Hoc  ipse  opusculum  .  .  .  una  nobiscum  tibi  offert  et 
dedicat  (Amoni's  ed.,  p.   140). 

2  Sabatier  in  Opuscules  de  crit.  hist.,  Ill,  p.  70,  n.  1:  "Avec  une  habilete  que 
je  me  dispenserai  de  qualifier,  Thomas  de  Celano  parla  de  facon  a  suggerer  a 
ses  lecteurs  l'idee,  que  la  seconde  vie  avait  ete  faite  en  collaboration  avec  les 
Socii." 

I  Gotz  in  Briegers  "Zeitschrift  f.  Kgsch."  1903,  p.  178:  "Mir  will  scheinen, 
die  Moglichkeit  dieses  Betruges  sich  "ausdenken,  heisst  sie  verneinen.  Es 
liegt  eine  seelische  Unmoglichkeit  vor,  ganz  abgesehen  davon,  dass  ein  Wider- 
spruch  gegen  den  Falscher  sich  in  der  spatern  Literatur  vorfinden  miisste 
auch  wenn  der  erste  Protest  der  Vergewaltigten  (i.e.  the  Socii)  uns  veloren 
gegangen  sein  sollte."  In  note  2  on  the  same  page  Gotz  adds,  that  from 
Sabatier's  standpoint  it  must  seem  very  remarkable  that  such  a  conscienceless 
falsifier,  as  Sabatier  considers  Thomas  of  Celano  to  be,  should  be  held  in  such 
high  esteem  by  his  superiors  and  should  always  get  new  commissions  for  work, 
which  he  kept  up  to  the  end  of  his  life;  "so  niedrig  stehende  Naturen  pflegen 
sich  auch  mit  ihren  Freunden  zu  uberwerfen." 


372  AUTHORITIES 

accordances).1    As  regards  the  second  part,  the  contents  do  not 
compare  so  closely. 

Up  to  the  most  recent  times  it  has  been  held  that  Thomas  of 
Celano  did  not  send  to  Crescentius  more  than  the  first  part  of  his 
Vita  secunda,  and  only  wrote  the  two  last  and  most  important 
books  at  the  request  of  Crescentius'  successor,  John  of  Parma.2 
This  belief  rests  on  a  note  in  Chronica  XXIV  generalium,  in  which 
it 3  is  said  of  this  immediate  successor  of  Crescentius,  that  he 
"  repeatedly  invited  Brother  Thomas  of  Celano  to  complete  his 


.  Chap.   XVI-XVII 

1  Tres  Socii  Vita  sec,      Celano 
Prologue  Prologue 

Chap.    I,  n.  i,  Chap.  II,  n.  4  .      .      .      .  Chap.  I 

II,  5-6 "      II 

III,  7-8 "Ill 

III,8-io "IV 

IV "V 

V,  13,  VI,  16 "VI 

VI,  16-20,  VII,  23       ...     .  "VII 

VII,  24 "      VIII 

VII,  22 "IX 

VIII,  27-28 "X 

XII,  46,  XIII,  54 "XI 

XIII,  55-56 "      XII-XIII 

XIV,  59 "     XIV 

XVI  and  XV "      XVI-XVII 

(Cap.  XXXIII  in  the  complete  Legenda  trium  sociorum,  ed.  Da  Civezza- 
Domenichelli,  corresponds  to  Cap.  XV  in  Celano  and  to  Cap.  27  in  Spec,  per- 
fectionis.) 

For  every  one  who  with  any  degree  of  attention  compares  the  chapters 
which  correspond  to  each  other,  there  can  exist  no  doubt  on  which  side  the 
originality  lies.  As  fresh  and  original  as  are  the  narrations  in  the  Legenda  trium 
sociorum,  so  are  they  stiff  and  involved  in  Thomas  of  Celano.  Moreover,  he 
abbreviates  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  often  impossible  to  understand  what 
he  is  telling  us,  if  we  do  not  know  it  in  advance.  In  one  place  we  see  him  pass 
over  a  whole  series  of  narrations  of  the  first  disciples  (Leg.  trium  sociorum,  Capp. 
IX-XI),  saying  that  it  would  be  too  long  to  follow  out  each  narration  {longum 
esset  de  singulis  persequi.    Vita  sec,  Cel.,  I,  10). 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  Thomas  of  Celano's  working  up  of  the  first 
part  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  ceases  with  Cap.  XVT,  he  did  not  know  of 
the  two  chapters  17  and  18  added  at  a  later  period  and  which  are  found  in  the 
manuscripts.  It  is  impossible  to  give  the  time  of  these  editions  more  accurately 
than  that  it  was  before  1375  probably,  and,  as  it  is  based  upon  St.  Bonaventure's 
work  on  St.  Francis,  they  come  after  1263. 

2  Thus  Sabatier,  Speculum  perfectionis,  p.  125,  and  the  editors  of  Analecta 
Franciscana,  vol.  II,  p.  18. 

3  Anal.  Franc,  III,  276. 


BIOGRAPHERS  373 

biography  of  St.  Francis,  for  he  had  only  written  about  his  conver- 
sation and  sayings  in  his  first  treatise  which  he  had  composed  by 
command  of  Brother  Crescentius."  As  Thomas  does  not  treat 
of  Francis's  conversatio  and  verba  in  the  first,  but  does  treat  of 
them  in  the  second  part  of  the  Vita  secunda,  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  this  cannot  be  the  part  of  the  biography  which  John  of  Parma 
asked  him  to  write.  Since  van  Ortroy's  publication  of  a  hitherto 
unknown  treatise  on  St.  Francis'  miracles,  which  without  doubt 
can  be  ascribed  to  Thomas  of  Celano,  we  also  know  thereby 
that  this  is  the  work  John  of  Parma  wished  written  to  complete 
the  Vita  secunda.1 

The  fact  that  the  division  between  the  two  parts  of  Celano's 
new  work  so  accurately  corresponds  with  the  conclusion  of  the 
traditional  Three  Brothers'  Legend  seems  to  indicate  that  there 
was  a  division  in  this  place  in  the  very  work  sent  out  from  the 
Convent  in  Greccio.  In  the  first  part  of  the  manuscript  the  Three 
Brothers  describe  a  period  of  time,  of  which  it  is  certain  that  their 
scribe,  Brother  Leo,  knew  nothing  from  his  own  experiences; 
therefore  they  had  to  content  themselves  as  best  they  could  with 
Thomas  of  Celano's  relation  in  the  Vita  prima,  although  certain 
parts,  such  for  example  as  that  treating  of  the  Brothers'  first 
missionary  trips,  are  completely  worked  over  con  amore.  But 
the  part  of  their  legend  which  corresponds  to  the  first  and  third 
of  Celano's  Vita  secunda  was  made  up  first  and  foremost  out  of 
their  own  remembrances  of  St.  Francis,  and  the  form  became  — 
as  the  Speculum  perfectionis  and  the  Melchiorri  Legend  show  — 
completely  different:  no  well  arranged  history  but  detached 
stories.    If  the  first  part  reminds  us  of  a  regularly  arranged  legend, 

Published  in  Analeda  Bollandiana,  XVIII  (1899),  pp.  81-177;  the  manu- 
script was  found  in  Marseilles. 

Gotz,  "Die  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  des  hi.  Franz,  v.  Assisi,"  published  in  book 
form  in  Gotha,  1904,  pp.  234  et  seq.,  is  inclined  to  ascribe  the  work  to  Julian 
of  Speier.  But  as  Julian  always  copied  Celano,  he  must  have  had  an  exactly 
corresponding  work  of  Thomas  before  him,  and  the  notes  in  the  Chron.  XXIV 
gen.  indicate  this. 

That  the  material  for  the  whole  of  the  Vita  secunda  was  sent  immediately 
by  Crescentius  to  Thomas  is  to  be  seen  in  this,  that  he  already  in  the  first 
volume  (chapter  XV)  treats  of  a  source  which  in  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum 
was  not  be  found  in  that  part,  but  in  the  second  half  of  the  Legend.  Sabatier 
therefore  suspects  unjustly  {Vie,  p.  76)  that  John  of  Parma  had  at  first 
given  Celano  the  rest  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  for  revision.  Moreover,  it 
was  Sabatier  who,  before  v.  Ortroy,  discovered  in  an  Assisi  MS.  fragments  of 
Celano's  Treatise  on  Miracles  {Misc.  Franc,  1894,  pp.  40  et  seq.  Compare 
Opuscules,  fasc.  Ill,  pp.  66-67). 


374 


AUTHORITIES 


the  second  part  supplies  precisely  the  flowers,  the  flores  which 
the  Brothers  promised  to  pluck  from  the  fields  of  their  memory. 
It  is  likely  that  the  second  part  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend 
originally  or  in  very  early  manuscripts  bore  the  title  we  know  in 
some  Franciscan  manuscripts,  now  injured  by  fire:  Flores  beati 
Francis ci  et  sociorum  ejus.1 

That  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  did  thus  consist  of  two  parts 
is  clearly  indicated  by  a  peculiarity  we  find  in  several  of  the  manu- 
scripts. In  these  manuscripts  we  find,  namely,  together  with  the 
Legenda  trium  sociorum  and  in  close  sequence  thereto,  sometimes 
the  Speculum  perfections,  sometimes  the  Actus  beati  Francisci  et 
sociorum  ejus.  These  two  compilations  of  the  fourteenth  century 
are  exactly  —  as  will  show  later  —  the  substitutes  of  a  later  time 
for  the  second  half  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  and  their  pres- 
ence in  this  place  is  an  indication  partly  of  the  incompleteness  of  the 
traditional  legend  and  partly  of  the  character  of  the  missing  second 
portion.  In  the  Bollandists'  Leonine  manuscript  of  the  Three 
Brothers'  Legend,  the  Speculum  and  the  Actus  follow  it;  the  same 
association  occurs  in  the  case  of  the  manuscript  N.  1743  of  1459, 
in  the  Mazarin  Library,  but  with  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum 
between  the  Speculum  and  the  Actus.  In  the  same  library  the 
manuscript  989  of  1460  contains  the  Tres  socii,  Speculum  and  the 
Actus.  Manuscript  343  of  Liege  of  1408  contains:  Tres  socii, 
Actus,  Admonitiones,  Speculum.  Manuscript  1407  in  the  Riccardi 
Library  in  Florence  contains  first  in  Italian  the  traditional  Legenda 
trium  sociorum  and  Lo  specchio  di  perfectione,  and  finally  a  quantity 
of  St.  Francis'  letters  and  prayers,  rules  for  hermits,  Admonitiones, 
The  Blessing  of  Brother  Leo,  with  a  whole  lot  of  small  pieces  of 
the  character  of  the  Fioretti,  the  whole  collected  under  the  title 
Incominciano  alquanti  fiori  spirituali.  Also  manuscript  2697  in  the 
University  Library  in  Bologna  of  about  1500  contains:  (1)  Tre 
Compagni,  (2)  Specchio  di  perfectione,  (3)  Fiori  spirituali.  (See 
the  detailed  description  of  these  and  many  similar  manuscripts  in 
the  introduction  to  Vols.  I,  II  and  IV  of  Sabatier's  exhaustive 
Collection  d 'etudes  et  de  documents  sur  Vhistoire  religieuse  et  litteraire 
du  moyen  age.     Paris,  1 898-1 902.) 

1  See  Papini:  Etruria  Francescana  (Siena,  1797),  PP-  162-163,  quoted  in 
Sabatier's  Collection  d' 'etudes  et  de  documents,  IV,  pp.  30-31.  One  of  these 
manuscripts  was  in  vulgari  and  they  cannot  well  have  had  anything  else 
in  them  than  the  Fioretti,  and  we  find  in  this  book  a  part  of  the  original  Fran- 
ciscan Flores.  The  question  is  first  and  foremost  this:  where  was  the  title 
first  used  and  what  work  did  it  originally  indicate?  And  here  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  Three  Brothers  in  1246  used  it  for  their  own  legend. 


BIOGRAPHERS  375 

This  theory  of  mine  of  the  original  division  of  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend  into  two  parts  would,  among  other  things,  make  it  clear 
how  Bartholomew  of  Pisa,  who  otherwise  knew  and  cites  a  more 
complete  Legenda  trium  sociorum  than  the  traditional,  is  never- 
theless (Conform.,Mi\saio,  1510,  fol.  181-182)  able  to  quote  Francis' 
prophecy  about  Cardinal  Hugolin's  elevation  to  the  Papal  throne, 
as  being  "almost  at  the  end  of  the  legend"  {quasi  in  fine  legendce). 
This  quotation  agrees,  namely,  with  the  traditional  fragmentary 
legend,  in  which  the  prophecy  is  certainly  found  in  the  last  lines 
of  the  last  chapter,  and  can  only  be  brought  into  unison  with  the 
author's  undoubted  acquaintance  with  a  completer  Legenda  trium 
sociorum,  if  we  accept  that  he  here  by  the  word  legenda  has  intended 
to  indicate  the  first  legendary  or  historic  part  of  the  work,  which 
he  distinguished  from  the  flores  (flowers)  of  its  second  division.1 

I  grant,  moreover,  that  the  Italian  Three  Brothers'  Legend  does 
not  support  this  thesis.  As  this,  namely,  is  contained  in  Muzio's 
copy,  no  division  into  two  parts  is  to  be  found  in  it,  but  a  whole 
quantity  of  the  chapters  I  have  designated  as  flores  are  found 
intercalated,  partly  between  Chaps.  XII  and  XIV  of  the  first 
part  of  the  Legend,  partly  between  Chaps.  XIV  and  XV-XVI  of 
the  same.  But  whether  even  the  Muzio  manuscript  gives  us  an 
idea  of  the  original  contents  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  or  not, 
it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the  division  into  the  two  parts 
should  have  been  followed  in  it.  In  the  Middle  Ages  they  took 
the  most  extensive  liberties  in  this  respect.2 

In  any  case  in  the  second  division  (second  and  third  book)  of 
Celano's  Vita  secunda,  we  have  to  see  an  editing  of  the  material 
the  Brothers  had  sent  to  Crescentius,  and  which  did  not  appear  in 
the  first  book  of  the  Vita  secunda.  But  we  shall  go  entirely  wrong 
if  we  expect  to  find  an  actual  written  authority  for  every  single 
chapter  in  Celano.  We  must  not  forget  that  Thomas  not  only 
drew  from  the  notes  of  the  Brothers,  but  also  from  their  verbal 
descriptions;  the  prologue  and  concluding  prayer  show  us  that 
this  co-operation  existed,  even  if  we  are  not  in  a  position  to  say 

1  An  indication  of  Bartholomew  of  Pisa's  knowledge  of  a  complete  Three 
Brothers'  Legend  is  in  Da  Civezza-Domenichelli,  pp.  46-49.  Tilemann, 
(same  work,  p.  69)  on  account  of  the  contradiction  whose  explanation  is 
attempted  above,  considers  the  quotations  of  Bartholomew  of  Pisa  quite 
unavailable  as  proofs  of  the  existence  of  a  Legenda  trium  sociorum  of  greater 
scope  than  the  traditional  one. 

2  In  this  connection  is  it  worthy  of  remark  that  Sabatier  in  the  Muzio 
manuscript  sees  an  intermediate  work  between  the  original  and  the  traditional 
Three  Brothers'  Legend.     {Opuscules,  fasc.  Ill,  p.  70.) 


376  AUTHORITIES 

how  and  under  what  forms.  We  have  a  right  to  expect  a  certain 
similarity  with  other  works  of  the  Brother  Leo  group,  and  such 
similarity  is  found,  not  only  when  we  compare  the  Vita  secunda 
with  the  Italian  Three  Brothers'  Legend  edited  by  Melchiorri, 
but  also  when  we  institute  the  comparison  with  the  work  that  more 
than  any  other  may  be  said  to  represent  the  tradition  originating 
with  Brother  Leo  and  his  circle,  Speculum  perfectionis.  A  whole 
quantity  of  chapters  of  both  works  are  found  introduced  in  Celano's 
Vita  secunda  —  we  may  compare  for  instance  the  Speculum,  30-35, 
with  the  Vita  secunda,  sec.  Ill,  31-34,  or  the  complete  Three 
Brothers'  Legend,  Caps.  30,  37,  38,  with  Caps.  37,  30,  32,  in  the 
same  part  of  Celano's  second  biography. 

There  are  not  a  few  chapters  in  the  Vita  secunda  that  did  not 
originate  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  and  there  are  also  many 
without  parallel  texts  in  the  Muzio-Melchiorri  Legend.  In  con- 
sideration of  the  exact,  almost  servile  parallelism  with  the  Legenda 
trium  sociorum  in  the  first  book  of  Celano's  second  biography,  I 
would  be  obliged  to  accept  the  conclusion  that  the  personal  co-opera- 
tion between  Thomas  and  the  Three  Brothers  began  first  with  the  second 
book,  in  whose  prologue,  exactly  in  the  Brothers'  spirit,  Francis  is 
conceived  and  represented  as  speculum  sanctitatis  and  imago  per- 
fectionis. From  now  on  there  is  less  adherence  to  Celano's  method 
of  work.  The  dedication  to  Crescentius  preceding  the  entire 
book  may  —  like  the  Brothers'  letter  of  1246  to  Crescentius  — 
have  been  written  last.1 

1  As  an  illustration  of  the  relation  between  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend, 
Speculum  perfectionis,  and  Celano's  Vita  secunda,  I  append  the  following  parallel: 

Legenda  trium  sociorum 

(Da  Civezza-Melchiorri's   ed.) 

Cap.  XIX.  Quomodo  exivit  cum  fervore  ad  quemdam  fratrem  qui  ibat  cum 
eleemosynis  laudando  Deum.  Alio  quoque  tempore,  beato  Francisco  existente 
apud  Sanctam  Mariam  de  Portiunculam,  quidam  frater,  spiritu'alis  valde,  venie- 
bat  per  stratam,  revertens  de  Assisio  pro  eleemosyna,  et  ibat  alta  voce  lauda- 
dando  Deum  cum  magna  jucunditate.  Quum  autem  appropinquasset  ecclesiae 
beatae  Mariae,  beatus  Franciscus  audivit  eum,  qui  cum  maximo  fervore  et 
gaudio  exivit  ad  eum,  occurrens  sibi  in  via,  et  cum  magna  laetitia  osculans  hume- 
rum  ejus,  ubi  apportabat  peram  cum  eleemosyna.  Et  accepit  peram  de  humero 
ejus  et  sic  apportavit  ipsam  in  domum  fratrum  et  coram  fratribus  dixit:  "Sic 
volo  quod  frater  meus  vadat  et  revertatur  cum  eleemosyna  laetus  et  gaudens  et 
laudans  Deum." 

Speculum  perfectionis  (Cap.  25)  has  exactly  the  same  text  (as  pauper  for 
frater  is  only  a  copyist's  error). 
Celano's  Vita  secunda 

(ed  Amoni) 

III,  cap.  XXII.  Qualiter  osculatus  fuit  humerum  eleemosynam  portantis. 
Alio  tempore  apud  Portiunculam  cum  frater  quidam  rediret  de  Assisio  cum 


BIOGRAPHERS  377 

Celano's  second  biography  seems  thus  to  rest  upon  two  separate 
foundations  —  partly  upon  the  second  part  of  the  Legenda  trium 
sociorum,  partly  upon  more  exact  descriptions  and  statements 
from  Leo,  Angelo  and  Rufino. 

As  the  Speculum  perfedionis,  which  was  written  in  13 18,  con- 
tains much  more  of  the  material  for  Celano's  second  biography 
than  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  in  the  Muzio  manuscript,  we  are 
apparently  forced  to  believe  that  the  original  Three  Brothers' 
Legend  was  less  detailed  than  Brother  Thomas'  Vita  secunda. 
But  as  there  is  undoubtedly  an  ancient  text,  the  foundation  for 
the  relations  in  the  Speculum,  even  when  they  are  not  found  in  the 
Italian  Legenda  trium  sociorum,  which  ancient  text  concerns  also 
the  relations  of  Thomas  of  Celano,  there  is  nothing  else  for  us  to 
suppose  than  that  the  Brothers  co-operating  with  Thomas  brought  to 
light  more  reminiscences  of  St.  Francis  than  those  they  had  put 
down  in  their  own  legend  —  the  same,  which  in  part  is  preserved 
for  us  in  the  Speculum  perfections.1 

Whether  the  question  can  be  answered,  as  to  why  in  all  the 
Latin  manuscripts  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  only  half  is 
preserved,  is  doubtful,  in  the  face  of  all  these  researches. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  there  is  a  sort  of  division  in  the  legend 
itself,  which  is  almost  enough  to  give  the  first  part  of  the  work  an 
independent  character. 

The  legend's  special  value  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  written 
by  the  nearest  friends  of  the  departed  founder  of  the  Order,  but 
Celano's  second  biography  had  the  same  pre-eminence  and  in 
addition  bore  an  official  stamp,  as  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend 
must  be  looked  upon  as  a  predecessor  from  which  Brother  Thomas 
extracted  the  best  parts. 

This  point  of  view  explains  well  why  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend  on  the  whole  returned  to  the  old  form.  But  it  does  not 
explain  how  the  second  part  of  it  has  disappeared.  Thomas  of 
Celano  had  worked  upon  the  whole  legend  —  why  did  not  the 
whole  of  it  disappear? 

eleemosyna,  propinquus  jam  loco  coepit  in  cantum  prorumpere,  et  Dominum 
alta  voce  laudare.  Quo  audito,  repente  exilit  sanctus,  accurrit  foras,  et  oscu- 
lato  fratris  humero,  sacculum  suo  imponit:  Benedictus,  inquit,  sit  frater  meus, 
qui  promptus  vadit,  humilis  quaerit,  gaudens  revertitur. 

1  It  is  clear  to  the  most  superficial  observation  (see  the  foregoing  remark) 
how  Thomas  abbreviated  and  adorned  the  simple  explicit  presentation  which 
is  preserved  for  us  in  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  and  in  the  Speculum.  Also 
how  the  material  is  not  reproduced  word  for  word,  but  —  as  in  the  parallel 
just  given  —  becomes  a  simple  statement  much  improved  in  style. 


378  AUTHORITIES 

The  real  reason  must  therefore  be  sought  elsewhere.  It  lies 
in  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of  a  manuscript  that  in  various 
ways  crowded  upon,  even  overshadowed  all  early  biographies  of 
St.  Francis  —  the  legend  produced  by  St.  Bonaventure  as  General 
of  the  Order.1 

3.  St.  Bonaventure  Group 

Bonaventure  (John  Fidanza)  from  Bagnorea  had  never  per- 
sonally known  St.  Francis.  He  was  —  this  he  tells  in  the  pro- 
logue to  his  legend  —  when  a  little  boy  cured  by  a  miracle  of  the 
great  Saint.2  He  was  born  in  1221  and  took  Orders  when  seven- 
teen years  old,  and  therefore  after  Francis'  death. 

It  was  a  General  Chapter  in  Narbonne  in  1260  which  entrusted 
to  Bonaventure  the  writing  of  a  new  legend  of  St.  Francis  so  that 
—  in  the  words  of  the  Chapter's  resolution  —  a  "  serious  and  cor- 
rect presentation"  can  be  given  "of  the  many  different  legends" 
which  now  exist.3 

Bonaventure  undertook  the  commission,  proposing  "according 
to  his  ability  to  collect  the  words  and  actions  of  the  Saint,  as  it 
were  certain  fragments  in  part  dispersed,  less  they  should  perish 
by  the  death  of  those  who  had  lived  in  the  society  of  the  servant 
of  God."  Like  a  good  historian  he  then  travelled  to  Assisi  and 
there  sought  Francis'  "still  living  familiar  friends,"  "especially 
some  who  knew  well  how  holy  he  was,"  who  therefore  claimed 
confidence   before   all   others.4     First   and   foremost   he    sought 

1  Editions  of  Celano's  Vila  secunda,  Rome,  1806  (Rinaldi),  and  Rome,  1880 
(Amoni). 

It  is  clear  to  be  seen,  that  Celano  in  his  authorship  always  sought  the  same 
authorities.  This  is  evident  in  the  fact  that  we  find  in  Celano's  Tractatus  de 
mlraculis,  written  by  order  of  John  of  Parma  —  concerning  the  presence  of 
Jacopa  de  Septemsoliis  at  the  deathbed  of  Francis  —  what  is  a  perfect  sequel 
to  the  present  narration  in  the  complete  Three  Brothers1  Legend  (Cap. 
LXXVIII),  and  Speculum  perfectionis  (Cap.  112).  Even  as  the  biographer 
of  St.  Clara,  he  worked  in  unison  with  Brother  Leo. 

2  ea  quam  ad  sanctum  patrem  habere  teneor  devotio  .  .  .  utpote  qui  per 
ipsius  invocationem  et  merita  in  puerili  aetate,  sicut  recenti  memoria  teneo, 
a  mortis  faucibus  erutus,  si  praeconia  laudis  eius  tacuero,  timeo  sceleris  argui 
ut  ingratus.     (Legenda  major,  ed.  Quaracchi,  1898,  Prologus,  3). 

5  ut  ablata  varietate  multarum  legendarum  ex  diversis  historiarum  frag- 
mentis,  quae  de  s.  Francisco  circumferebantur,  gravem  et  sinceram  ipse  con- 
cinnaret  historiam.     Wadding,  1260,  n.  18. 

4  actus  et  verba  quasi  fragmenta  quaedam  partim  neglecta,  partimque  dis- 
persa,  quamquam  plene  non  possem,  utcumque  colligerem,  ne,  morientibus 
his,  qui  cum  famulo  Dei  convixerant,  deperirent  .  .  .  adiens  locum  originis, 


BIOGRAPHERS  379 

Brother  Leo,  with  whom  he  had  already  corresponded,  as  he  had 
to  send  reports  to  the  General  of  the  Order  concerning  the  Clares 
in  S.  Damiano  (after  1260  in  St.  Clara),  whose  visitator  he  was.1 
Next  comes  Brother  Illuminato,  who  up  to  1273  was  Provincial 
of  Umbria  and  who  seems  to  have  given  Bonaventure  much 
material  (on  the  trip  to  the  Orient  in  which  he  took  part,  and  from 
the  Rieti  district,  where  he  had  his  home).  Furthermore,  Bona- 
venture's  work  appears  as  a  skilfully  prepared  compilation  of  all 
the  preceding  sources  —  Celano's  Vita  prima,  which  he  used  in 
Julian  of  Speier's  adaptation,  the  first  part  of  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  Celano's  Vita  secunda  and  Treatise  on  Miracles — finally 
he  uses  in  one  place  an  expression  that  reminds  one  of  a  relation 
in  the  later  Speculum  perfectionis.2  There  is  little  new  in  St. 
Bonaventure;  most  that  is  new  consists  of  further  adornments  of 
the  legends.  Thus  the  Priest  Silvester,  in  the  vision  which  con- 
verts him,  sees  not  only  a  cross  issuing  from  the  mouth  of  St. 
Francis,  but  sees  also  a  dragon  that  surrounds  the  whole  of 
Assisi,  and  which  Francis  puts  to  flight.  Also  the  tale  of  the  man 
in  Assisi,  who  in  Francis'  youth  honored  him  by  spreading  his 
cloak  before  him  in  the  street,  is  found  for  the  first  time  in  Bona- 
venture.3 In  this  and  other  new  details  we  seem  to  hear  the  echo 
of  all  the  more  or  less  fabulous  and  numerous  tales  about  St. 
Francis,  which  went  from  mouth  to  mouth  in  the  market-place  in 
Assisi,  or  were  told  by  the  firesides  in  the  evening  when  they  were 
entertaining  each  other  with  stories. 

Thode  in  his  well-known  book  has  undertaken  to  collect  together 
these  new  incidents  in  Bonaventure's  legend.4  Here  we  must 
observe  that  St.  Bonaventure  —  as  the  editors  of  Analecta  Fran- 


conversationis  et  transitus  viri  sancti,  cum  familiaribus  eius  adhuc  supervi- 
ventibus  collationem  .  .  .  habui  diligentem,  et  maxime  cum  quibusdam,  qui 
sanctitatis  eius  et  conscii  fuerunt  et  sectatores  praecipui,  quibus  .  .  .  fides 
est  indubitabilis  adhibenda.     (Prolog.  3-4.) 

1  Intelligens  semper,  dilectae  in  Domino  filiae,  per  carissimum  nostrum 
fratrem  Leonem,  quondam  socium  sancti  patris,  quomodo  velut  sponsae  regis 
aeterni  servire  Christo  pauperi  crucifixo  in  omni  puritate  studeatis.  .  .  .  (Let- 
ter of  October,  1259,  to  the  Clares  in  S.  Damiano,  in  Bonaventure's  Opera  omnia, 
Quaracchi,  1898,  VIII,  p.  473). 

2  See  the  comparison  with  Da  Civezza-Domenichelli,  p.  186,  note  a.  Saba- 
tier's  assertion  (Spec,  per/.,  pp.  130  et  seq.),  that  Bonaventure  used  the  Specu- 
lum throughout  his  work,  is  refuted  by  Tilemann  (loc.  cit.,  p.  74). 

3  Legenda  major,  III,  6;  I,  1. 

4H.  Thode:  "Franz  v.  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  der  Kunst  der  Renaissance  in 
Italien"  Berlin,  1885,  p.  535.  See  also  Gotz:  "Quellen"  Gotha,  1904,  pp. 
243-257;  Tilemann,  loc.  cit.,  pp.  72-76.  1 


380  AUTHORITIES 

ciscana  say  in  one  place  —  referring  to  the  whole  of  this  question 
of  origin,  "for  the  sake  of  peace,  somewhat  modified  it,"1  in  other 
words  that  he  modified  the  too  severe  development  of  the  original 
Franciscan  ideals,  as  it  is  found  both  in  Celano  and  in  the  Legenda 
trium  sociorum.  And  here  we  have  the  reason  for  the  condemnation 
of  the  last  named  legend. 

After  Bonaventure  had  finished  his  biography  he  laid  it  before 
the  Chapter  of  the  Order  in  Pisa  in  1263,  and  they  were  so  pleased 
with  his  work  that  they  resolved  to  destroy  all  the  other  legends  of  St. 
Francis.  As  Tilemann  has  said:  "  they  canonized  the  General's 
Legend  and  proscribed  all  others." 

This  momentous  resolution  reads  as  follows: 

"The  General  Chapter  commands  likewise  in  the  name  of 
obedience,  that  all  legends  that  have  been  written  about  St. 
Francis  shall  be  destroyed,  and  where  they  are  found  outside  the 
Order,  the  Brothers  will  seek  to  dispose  of  them,  because  the 
legend  which  was  written  by  the  General  is  made  up  of  what  he 
heard  from  their  mouths,  who  were  with  St.  Francis  nearly  all  the 
time  and  knew  everything  with  certainty.  .  .  .  "  2 

The  decree  disposed  of  all  earlier  legends,  but  especially  of  the 
two  in  which  this  ideal,  dangerous  to  the  preservation  of  peace, 
was  most  definitely  announced  —  Celano's  Vita  secunda  and  the 
second  part  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend.  Thomas  of  Celano's 
work  was  somewhat  protected  by  the  name  of  its  author  —  he 
was  indeed  the  Order's  first  official  historian  and,  after  the  canon- 
ization of  St.  Clara  in  1255  by  Pope  Alexander  IV,  had  received 
the  commission  to  write  also  her  legend.  Nevertheless  there  are 
only  two  manuscripts  of  his  "Second  Biography."  And  for  Leo's, 
Rufino's  and  Angelo's  "Wreath  of  Flowers"  no  pity  was  felt, 
and  with  dutiful  zeal,  following  the  order  of  the  General  Chapter, 
the  Brothers  scattered  them  before  the  winds.     Only  the  first  half 


1  Ut  pad  consulat,  aliquatenus  mitius  procedit  S.  Bonaventura  {Anal.  Fr., 
II,  p.  22). 

2  Item  praecipit  capitulum  generale  per  obedientiam,  quod  omnes  legendae 
de  beato  Francisco  olim  factae  deleantur  et  ubi  inveniri  poterunt  extra  ordinem, 
ipsas  fratres  studeant  amovere,  cum  ilia  legenda,  quae  facta  est  per  generalem, 
sit  compilata,  prout  ipse  habuit  ab  ore  illorum,  qui  cum  beato  Francisco  quasi 
semper  fuerunt  et  cuncta  certitudinaliter  sciverint  et  probata  ibi  sint  posita 
diligenter.  (Rinaldi's  edition  of  Celano,  Rome,  1806,  p.  XI.)  Also  Angelo 
Clareno  (d.  ca.  1337)  knew  that  "quae  scripta  erant  in  legenda  prima,  nova 
edita  a  fratre  Bonaventura,  deleta  et  destructa  sunt,  ipso  jubente."  (Chronica 
septem  tribnlationum,  in  "Archiv  fur  Litt.  u.  Kgsch."  II,  p.  56.)  Compare 
-Wadding,  1260,  n.  18. 


BIOGRAPHERS  381 

was  in  some  cases  spared,  as  well  as  Celano's  Vita  prima  for  the 
sake  of  its  less  significant  character,  and  yet  of  the  Vita  prima 
there  are  only  seven  manuscripts  preserved  and  of  the  condemned 
Three  Brothers'  Legend  only  eighteen  manuscripts,  while  for  the 
use  of  the  new  Quaracchi  edition  of  Bonaventure's  work  no 
less  than  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  manuscripts  were  at 
hand. 

To  the  same  group  as  St.  Bonaventure's  legend  is  naturally 
attributed  the  work  De  laudibus  Sancti  Francisci,  written  by  his 
secretary,  Bernard  of  Bessa,  about  1290.  After  having  decreed 
the  destruction  of  all  the  earlier  legends,  the  highest  authorities 
of  the  Order  seemed  to  have  realized  a  too  radical  treatment  of 
the  old  remains,  and  in  1277  the  Chapter  of  the  Order  in  Padua 
invited  new  researches  for  the  collection  of  all  memoirs  of  St. 
Francis  still  in  existence.1  Bernard  of  Bessa  seems  to  have  ac- 
cepted this  invitation;  in  any  case  his  work  is  later  than  1277, 
because  he  (Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  682)  refers  to  John  Peckham  as 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  a  dignity  to  which  this  Franciscan  was 
first  raised  in  1 279.2 

The  fact  is  that  Bernard  of  Bessa's  manuscript  presents  little 
that  is  new;  he  is,  like  his  teacher  and  master,  a  compiler.  In 
the  prologue  he  names  as  his  sources  Celano's  first  biography, 
John  of  Ceperano,  Julian  of  Speier  and  "Brother  Bonaventure, 
General  of  the  Order,  formerly  a  distinguished  teacher  of  theology 
in  Paris,  then  Cardinal  in  the  Holy  Roman  Church  and  Bishop 
of  Albano."  But  neither  the  Vita  secunda  nor  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend  is  named,  which,  with  the  decree  of  1263  in  mind,  seems 
very  natural,  although  Bernard  used  them  so  much.3  Tilemann 
clearly  saw  that  this  silence  about  the  Legenda  trium  sociorum  was 
an  argument  for  the  incompleteness  of  the  traditional  legend; 
Bernard  says  nothing  of  it,  nor  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda,  because 
both  works  contain  things  that  were  not  well  looked  upon  by 
the  peace-loving  majority.  Sabatier  suspects  that  Bernard  in  his 
functions  as  secretary  to  Bonaventure  had  access  to  the  condemned 
legends.4  On  the  other  hand,  Bernard  did  not  need  to  have  ex- 
tracted his  story  of  the  visit  of  Jacopa  of  Settesoli  to  the  death- 
bed of  Francis  from  the  yet  unwritten  Speculum;  it  is  to  be 
found  both   in   Thomas  of   Celano's  Treatise  on  Miracles  and 

1  Anal.  Boll,  XIX,  133. 

2Eubel:  Hierarchia  cath.  medii  aevi,  p.  169. 

3  Parallel  places  cited  by  Tilemann,  pp.  79-80. 

4  Speculum  perfectionis,  p.  CXXXIV. 


382  AUTHORITIES 

probably  also  was  in  the  complete  form  of  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend.1 

4.  Speculum  Group 

After  1263  we  hear  little  said  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend; 
the  Chronica  XXIV  generalium  a  hundred  years  later  mentions 
it  again  and  quotes  the  letter  to  Crescentius.2  But  until  1271 
the  man  was  still  living  who  was,  so  to  say,  the  living  reproduction 
of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend;  namely,  Brother  Leo.  In  spite 
of  all  prohibitions,  memories  of  his  beloved  lord  and  master's  life 
still  bloomed  in  his  aged  heart,  and  when  the  young  Brothers 
from  near  and  far  visited  him  in  his  cell  at  Portiuncula,  his  mouth 
overflowed  with  what  filled  his  heart,  and  he  told  them  multa 
magnolia,  many  great  things  about  St.  Francis.  Sometimes  he 
criticized  the  official  legend  and  declared  that  things  went  alto- 
gether different  from  its  descriptions.  And  both  his  relations  and 
his  criticism  were  remembered  by  the  young  men  and  written 
down  for  edification  and  for  later  discussion.  Thus  Brother  Leo 
came  in  contact  with  all  the  best  among  the  Order:  Brother  Conrad 
of  Offida  (d.  1300),  Brother  Salimbene,  Brother  Peter  of  Tewkes- 
bury (Provincial  of  England),  Brother  Francis  of  Fabriano  (d.  1322), 
Brother  Angelo  Clareno  (entered  the  Order  a  little  after  1260).3 

1  Da  Civezza  and  Domenichelli's  Legends,  cap.  LXXVIII. 

Bernard  of  Bessa's  work  appears  in  the  Analecta  Fraticiscana,  III,  pp.  666- 
692,  and  by  F.  Hilarin  Felder,  Rome,  1897. 

2  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  262. 

3  parum  ante  mortem  fratris  Leonis  apparuit  (fratri  Ioanni)  sanctus  Fran- 
ciscus  dicens,  ut,  assumpto  fratre  Corrado,  pergeret  ad  fratrem  Leonem,  qui 
tunc  in  sancta  Maria  de  Portiuncula  morabatur,  et  ab  ipso  inquireret  de  verbis 
et  vita  sua,  scilicet  sancti  patris  Francisci.  Quod  cum  fecisset,  ambo  multa 
magnalia  de  beato  Francisco  ab  ipso  fratre  Leone  audiverunt.  {Anal.  Franc. , 
III,  p.  428.) 

Sicut  dixit  mihi  f rater  Leo  socius  suus  (Salimbene,  Chronica,  p.  75). 

Sed  et  frater  Leo,  socius  sancti  Francisci,  dixit  fratri  Petro,  ministro  Angliae, 
quod  apparitio  seraphim  facta  fuit  sancto  Francisco  in  quodam  raptu  contem- 
plationis,  et  satis  evidentius,  quam  scribebatur  in  vita  sua.  .  .  .  Ista  scripsit 
frater  Garynus  de  Sedenefeld  ab  ore  fratris  Leonis.  (Eccleston,  Anal.  Franc. 
I,  p.  245.     See  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  646.) 

Wadding  (1267,  n.  5)  quotes  the  following  from  Francis  Venimbemi  of  Fabri- 
ano: De  supradicto  fratre  Petro  Cathanii,  quod  fuit  generalis  minister,  habetur 
ex  dictis  fratris  Leonis,  unius  de  sociis  sancti  Francisci,  quern  scilicet  fratrem 
Leonem  ego  vidi  et  eius  scripta  legi,  quae  recollegit  de  dictis  et  vita  sanctissimi 
patris  nostri  Francisci. 

Finally  Angelo  Clareno  in  his  Chronica  septem  tribidationum  (quoted  in 
Sabatier's  edition  of  Spec  perf.,  p.  89,  n.  1)  says:  Supererant  adhuc  multi 
de  sociis  .  .  .  de  quibus  ego  vidi   et  ab  ipsis  audivi  quae   narro,  qui    ex 


BIOGRAPHERS  383 

And  when  the  young  men  had  departed  and  Brother  Leo  was 
again  alone  in  his  poor  little  cell,  whose  whitewashed  walls  always 
seemed  to  him  to  be  shining  with  bright  sunlight,  then  the  old 
Franciscan  sat  down  at  his  work-table  and  began  to  write  just  as 
in  the  old  days  when  St.  Francis  dictated.  Memory  after  memory 
came  upon  him,  one  sheet  of  parchment  was  written  full  after 
another  in  his  beautiful  clear  handwriting,  and  when  twilight 
came  and  the  clouds  grew  gold  in  the  evening  over  Perugia's 
distant  towers,  then  Brother  Leo  rolled  up  his  parchments  and 
carried  them  down  the  road,  which  under  the  olive  trees  passes 
along  Assisi's  wall  out  to  St.  Clara's  convent.  Thither  he  had 
already  brought  one  of  his  dearest  treasures,  the  Breviary  St. 
Francis  had  used;  now  his  reminiscences  of  the  great  departed  one 
were  to  be  entrusted  to  the  guardianship  of  the  Sisters.  Little 
by  little  they  thus  collected  a  considerable  collection  of  anecdotes, 
in  part  identical  with  the  older  writings  from  the  time  when  he 
collaborated  with  Thomas  of  Celano ;  but  we  may  well  believe  that 
many  a  new  page  was  inserted  in  this  book  of  reminiscences. 
During  such  quiet  hours  at  the  writing  table  were  written  also 
the  "Leaves  of  Memory,"  as  they  may  be  called,  which  Leo,  like 
his  master,  was  wont  to  give  or  to  send  to  his  disciples,  and  by 
which  he  impressed  them  with  the  Franciscan  ideals.1 

In  these  rotuli  or  schedules,  "rolls  or  schedules,"  of  Brother  Leo 

toto  corde  revelata  eorum  patri  fideliter  et  pure  servare  satagebant.  It  follows 
from  the  words  quoted,  that  Clareno  here  and  foremost  is  thinking  of  Brother 
Leo;  for  it  is  exactly  he  who  knew  what  had  been  revealed  to  Francis  at  Fonte 
Colombo  and  on  Mt.  Alverna  and  preserved  it  all  in  his  heart. 

1  quod  sequitur  a  sancto  fratre  Conrado  predicto  et  viva  voce  audivit  a 
sancto  fratre  Leone.  .  .  .  Et  hoc  ipsum  in  quibusdam  rohdis  manu  sua  con- 
scriptis,  quos  commendavit  in  monasterio  sanctae  Clarae  custodiendos  ad 
futurorum  memoriam  dicitur  contineri.  In  illis  autem  multa  scripsit,  sicut  ex 
ore  patris  audiverat.  (Ubertino  of  Casale,  in  his  work,  written  1305,  Arbor  vitae 
crucifixae,  Venice  1485,  fol.  222ai.  Rotulus,  according  to  Ducange  =  scheda, 
carta  in  speciem  rotulae,  seu  rotae,  convoluta.  Brother  Leo's  documents  are 
also  called  schedulae,  i.e.,  schedules.  Both  titles  seem  to  indicate  pieces  without 
connection  with  each  other.  St.  Francis'  Breviary  in  the  convent  of  Santa  Chiara 
in  Assisi  has  on  its  first  page  a  note  written  by  the  hand  of  Brother  Leo.  It 
runs  thus:  frater  Angelus  et  frater  Leo  supplicant  sicut  possunt  dominae  Bene- 
dictae  abbatissae  pauperum  dominarum  monasterii  sanctae  Clarae  .  .  .  ut  in 
memoria  et  devotione  sancti  patris  librum  istum  in  quo  multoties  legit  dictus 
pater  semper  conservent  in  monasterio  sanctae  Clarae.  (Quoted  in  Sabatier's 
Spec,  perf.,  p.  175,  n.  2.) 

Brother  Leo's  schedule  to  Brother  Conrad  of  Omda  is  found  interpolated 
between  Chapters  71  and  72  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  and  in  another  form 
the  Actus  b.  Francisci,  cap.  65.     Compare  Anal.  Franc,  III,  p.  70. 


384  AUTHORITIES 

is  found  the  matter  for  the  three  works  which  complete  the  circle 
of  the  Franciscan  legends;  namely,  Speculum  perfectionis,  Legenda 
antiqua  and  Actus  beati  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus  (Fioretti). 

a.  Speculum  perfectionis 

As  already  mentioned,  Paul  Sabatier,  in  his  search  for  the  miss- 
ing portion  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  in  the  late  Franciscan 
compilation,  Speculum  beati  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus  (printed 
1504),  found  a  series  of  chapters  which  offer  the  most  striking 
likeness  to  the  legends  of  Leo,  Angelo  and  Rufino,  and  whose 
authors  —  for  there  appeared  to  be  several  —  in  not  less  than 
seventeen  places  declare  that  they  had  been  Francis'  nearest 
friends  and  companions,  nos,  qui  cum  eo  fuimus  —  an  expression 
which  strikingly  reminds  us  of  the  words  in  the  Brothers'  letter  to 
Crescentius:  visum  est  nobis,  qui  secum  licet  indigni  fuimus  diutius 
conversati.  Sabatier  was  just  on  the  point  of  concluding  that  he 
here  stood  face  to  face  with  the  missing  Three  Brothers1  Legend 
when  in  a  manuscript  in  the  Mazarin  Library  in  Paris  (No.  1743) 
he  found  these  chapters  from  the  Speculum  beati  Francisci  as  a 
distinct  division  with  the  title  Speculum  perfectionis  and,  what 
completely  overcame  him,  with  the  following  ending:  "Here 
ends  the  Friars'  Minor  mirror  of  perfection.  ...  All  praise,  all 
glory  be  to  God  the  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Ghost.  Honor  and 
thanks  to  the  most  glorious  Virgin  Mary  and  to  his  Holy  Martyr 
Kunera,  exaltation  and  veneration  to  his  most  Holy  Servant 
Francis,  Amen.  Done  in  the  most  holy  place  of  St.  Mary  of  Por- 
tiuncula  and  finished  May  n,  in  the  year  of  the  Lord  1227." 1 

What  should  at  once  have  made  Sabatier  doubtful  about  this 
date  was  the  reference  immediately  preceding  it  to  the  German 
Saint  Kunera,  who  especially  was  honored  in  the  district  of 
Utrecht,  but  to  whom  it  was  hardly  probable  that  an  Italian 
legend  writer  in  the  year  1227  should  give  a  place  of  honor, 
immediately  after  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  before  Francis  himself. 
But  the  text  of  the  manuscript  contains  a  whole  quantity  of  things 

1  Explicit  speculum  perfectionis  fratris  minoris,  scilicet  beati  Francisci, 
in  quo  scilicet  vocationis  et  professionis  suae  perfectionem  potest  sufficientissime 
speculari.  Omnis  laus,  omnis  gloria  sit  Deo  patri  et  filio  et  spiritui  sancto. 
Honor  et  gratiarum  actio  gloriosissimae  virgini  Mariae,  eiusque  sanctae  Martyri 
Kunerae,  magnificentia  et  exaltatio  beatissimo  servo  suo  Francisco.  Amen. 
Actum  in  sacro  sancto  loco  sanctae  Mariae  de  Portiuncula  et  completum  V  ° 
ydus  May,  anno  domini  M0CC°XXVIIIo.  (Spec,  per/.,  ed.  Sabatier,  p.  246.) 
The  year  1228  in  the  Florentine  reckoning  of  time  used  in  the  above  corresponds 
to  our  1227. 


THE       SPECULUM      PERFECTIONIS         385 

which  tell  against  so  early  an  authorship.  For  example,  in  speak- 
ing of  Cardinal  Hugolin  it  says  "who  afterwards  became  Pope." 
In  1227  the  expression  should  have  been:  "who  has  just  become 
Pope,"  for  Gregory  IX  (Hugolin)  reigned  from  March  12,  1227, 
to  August  ai,  1 241.  But  the  clause  named  above  is  applied  to 
Hugolin's  name  not  less  than  four  times  (Capp.  21,  23,  43,  65)  and 
always  in  the  same  words.  Also  in  the  commencement  of  Chapter 
107  we  are  told  of  the  death  of  St.  Bernard  of  Quintavalle.  But 
this  first  successor  to  St.  Francis  was  alive  in  1242,  as  Salim- 
bene  visited  him  in  this  year  in  the  convent  in  Siena.1  Sabatier 
decided  that  these  statements  were  later  inserts,  and  published  his 
work  in  1898,  as  "the  oldest  legend  of  St.  Francis,  written  by 
brother  Leo."  2 

Sabatier's  edition  follows  the  text  of  the  Mazarin  manuscript, 
with  the  exception  of  one  point,  and  this  is  very  important ;  namely, 
the  beginning.  The  Mazarin  manuscript  begins  with  the  follow- 
ing introduction,  fatal  to  Sabatier's  thesis  of  the  early  authorship 
of  the  manuscript:  "Here  begins  the  mirror  of  perfection  of  the 
Friars  Minor;  namely,  of  St.  Francis."  This  work  is  compiled  as  a 
legend  of  various  old  relations,  which  the  nearest  friends  of  St.  Francis 
wrote  or  had  written  in  various  convents."*  Sabatier  on  his  own 
responsibility  omitted  this  introduction  and  replaced  it  with  an- 
other, which  he  took  from  a  Vatican  manuscript,  of  the  Legenda 
antiqua,  which,  even  if  akin  to  it,  was  a  work  of  different  character 
and  whose  introduction  was  the  following:  "Here  begins  the  mirror 
of  perfection  of  the  Friars  Minor;  namely,  of  St.  Francis,"  which 
the  text  immediately  follows.  In  1227,  the  year  after  the  death  of 
St.  Francis,  it  is  evident  that  they  could  not  speak  of  "old  rela- 
tions" written  in  various  convents  by  St.  Francis'  nearest  dis- 
ciples; if,  therefore,  the  date  of  the  work  was  correct,  this  unsuitable 
introduction  must  be  taken  away  from  it.4 

1  Vidi  enim  et  primum,  scilicet  fratrem  Bernardum  de  Quintavalle,  cum  quo 
in  conventu  Senensi  una  chyeme  habitavi.  Et  fuit  intimus  meus  amicus  et 
mihi  et  aliis  juvenibus  de  beato  Francisco  multa  magnalia  referebat  (Chronica, 
p.  11). 

Salimbene  entered  the  Order  in  1238. 

2 .  .  .  Legenda  antiquissima  auctore  fratre  Leone. 

3  Italics  mine.     The  Latin  text  is  as  below: 

Istud  opus  compilatum  est  per  modum  legendae  ex  quisbusdam  antiquis 
quae  in  diversis  locis  scripserunt  et  scribi  fecerunt  socii  beati  Francisci. 
Loci,  "Places,"  was  the  oldest  designation  of  the  Franciscan  convents. 

4  See  Sabatier's  text,  p.  1.  On  page  252  in  his  book  he  adds  the  Incipit  to 
the  legend,  which  was  improperly  removed,  but  explains  that  he  has  not  accepted 
it,  because  it "  serait  en  contradiction  manifeste  avec  tout  le  contenu  de  l'ouvrage, 

26 


386  AUTHORITIES 

The  appearance  of  Sabatier's  edition  of  the  Speculum  excited 
active  interest  among  students  of  Franciscan  history,  and  a  whole 
quantity  of  treatises  appeared  for  and  against  him.1  Among 
other  things  the  didactic  character  of  the  work  was  appealed  to  as 
an  argument  against  its  early  date;  for  such  works,  in  which  the 
legend's  individual  elements,  as  is  the  case  in  the  Speculum,  are 
arranged  under  heads  of  virtues  —  "Of  his  complete  poverty,"  "Of 
his  charity  to  his  neighbor,"  "Of  his  complete  humility,  obedience," 
etc.  —  as  a  rule  appear  only  after  long  perfecting  of  the  legend. 

But  Sabatier  meanwhile  held  vigorously  to  his  assumed  discov- 
ery and  would  not  give  up  even  after  Minocchi  of  the  convent 
library  in  Ognissanti,  Florence,  produced  a  new  manuscript  of 
the  Speculum  perfectionis  which  both  in  introduction  and  text 
compared  perfectly  with  the  Mazarin  manuscript,  but  at  the  end, 
in  place  of  1227,  was  dated  13 18.  The  early  dating  in  Sabatier's 
manuscript  was  due,  therefore,  as  van  Ortroy  had  already  sus- 
pected, to  a  copyist's  error,  and  a  glance  at  the  two  dates  as 
they  are  found  in  their  manuscripts  will  show  that  such  an  error 
could  easily  take  place.2  Now  the  reference  in  the  introduction 
to  the  compilatory  character  of  the  work,  and  the  invocation  of 
the  German  saint  at  the  end,  became  intelligible;  the  Speculum 
was  a  compilation  written  in  Portiuncula  in  13 18,  and  Sabatier's 
manuscript  was  a  copy  of  it  made  in  a  Dutch  convent.  In  13 18 
the  Franciscan  Order  had  a  number  of  Dutch  and  Belgian  con- 
vents, and  a  Brother  in  one  of  them  in  the  end  of  the  legend  had 

car  l'unite  de  plan,  de  style  et  de  pensee  se  revele  dans  toutes  les  parties  de  cette 
legende."  Such  arguments  based  on  "unity  of  style"  are  always  very  attract- 
ive and  this  one  has  its  attractions  also.  But  it  gives  no  right  whatever  to 
remove  a  part  of  the  legend  that  is  found  in  all  manuscripts  because  it  does  not 
accord  with  an  individual's  conception  of  the  character  of  the  work.  Sabatier, 
in  his  Collection  d'etudes,  II,  p.  148,  n.  3,  has  given  a  further  defence  of  his 
method  of  treatment. 

1  In  Gotz,  "Quellen,"  p.  148,  n.  2,  is  given  a  sketch  of  the  most  important 
of  these. 

2  In  Anal.  Boll.,  XIX,  pp.  59-60,  v.  Ortroy  gives  the  following  convincing 
comparison  of  the  Explicit  in  the  two  manuscripts  explaining  the  true  bearings 
of  the  case: 

Maz.  Bibl.,  1743  Ognissanti-Manuscript 

Explicit    speculum    perfectionis  .  .  .  Explicit    Speculum    perfectionis  .  .   . 

Actum  in   sacro  sancto  loco  sanctae  Actum    in    sacrosancto    loco    sanctae 

Mariae  de  Portiuncula  et  completum  Mariae  de  Portiuncula  et  completum 

V°ydiis  may  anno  Domini   M°CC°-  V  idus  maii  M°CCC°XVIII. 
XXVIII0. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  date  MCCCXVIII  by  the  putting  of  an  X  for  a 
C  became  MCCXXVIII. 


THE     SPECULUM      PERFECTIONIS  387 

injected  his  invocation  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  locality.  This 
accords  with  the  fact  that  the  manuscript,  before  it  reached  the 
Mazarin  Library  in  Paris,  according  to  a  notice  on  its  first  page, 
had  belonged  to  a  convent  in  Namur.1 

But  although,  as  Gotz  has  said,2  it  can  no  more  be  disputed  that 
the  Speculum  perfectionis  as  we  now  possess  it  is  a  compilation 
of  the  year  13 18,  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  denied  that,  as  Sabatier 
affirms,  it  really  originated  with  Brother  Leo.  It  was  not  written 
by  him  in  its  present  shape,  but  it  is  founded  on  material  he  left 
after  him;  namely,  upon  his  "  schedules,"  his  schedules  or  rotuli. 

The  existence  of  these  schedules  was  not  forgotten  in  the  half 
century  which,  in  13 18,  had  passed  since  the  death  of  Brother 
Leo.  In  the  course  of  time  they  were  read  and  examined  by  a 
whole  quantity  of  men,  who  ranked  among  the  best  in  the  Order, 
and  in  the  battle  of  the  Franciscan  ideals  which  these  men  waged, 
" Brother  Leo's  Schedules"  and  what  they  contained  were  always 
the  last  and  most  weighty  argument. 

The  first  who  thus  appealed  to  Brother  Leo  was  Peter  John 
Olivi,  who  died  March  14,  1298.  In  his  "Explanation  of  the 
Rule  of  the  Order"  he  quotes  a  story  that  now  is  found  in 
the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Speculum  perfectionis  and  which  he  says 
he  read  in  "  Brother  Leo's  Schedules."  3 

The  next  in  series  is  Angelo  Clareno  (about  1245-133 7).  He 
joined  the  Franciscan  Order  a  little  after  1260  and,  as  has  been 
already  said,  knew  several  of  Francis'  disciples,  whose  communi- 
cations he  used  for  his  Historia  septem  tribulationum.4  In  this 
chronicle  he  now  names,  as  the  four  biographers  of  St.  Francis, 
John  (of  Ceperano),  Thomas  of  Celano,  Bonaventure  and  "the 
man  of  wonderful  simplicity  and  holiness,  Brother  Leo,  St. 
Francis'  intimate  friend." 6  With  this  last  as  authority  (ut 
scribit  frater  Leo)  he  produces  three  passages,  which  are  now 
found  in  the  Speculum  perfectionis.     Remembering  the  decree  of 

1  Ista  legenda  b.  Francisci  patris  seraphici  est  fratrum  cruciferorum  Na- 
murcensium.     (Tilemann,  loc.  cit.  95.) 

2  Gotz:  "Quellen,"  p.  149.  Compare  Tilemann,  pp.  111-113,  and  H. 
Bcehmer:  " Analekten  zur  Geschichte  des  Franciscus  von  Assisi"  (Tubingen  u. 
Leipzig,   1904),  p.  68. 

3  Unde  et  in  cedulis  fratris  Leonis,  quas  de  his,  quae  de  patre  nostro  tam- 
quam  ejus  singularis  socius  viderat  et  audierat,  conscripsit,  legitur  .  .  .  (Fir- 
mamentum  trium  ordinum,  Venice,  15 13,  f.  123,  quoted  by  Sabatier  in  his  edition 
of  Spec,  per/.,  p.  246,  n.  1.     Tilemann,  p.  83). 

4  Tilemann,  p.  117. 

6  vir  mirae  simplicitatis  et  sanctitatis  frater  Leo  (Quoted  by  Sabatier, 
Spec,  perf.,  p.  138). 


388  AUTHORITIES 

1260  we  are  at  liberty  to  believe  that  he  —  as  Tilemann  and 
Sabatier  would  have  it  —  here  gives  us  the  complete  Legenda 
trium  sociorum.1  This  is  quite  probable,  because  Mariano  (d.  1527), 
whom  Wadding  quotes,  seems  also  to  have  known  it,  and  because 
the  Italian  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  published  by  Melchiorri,  dates 
at  the  earliest  from  the  fourteenth  century.  If  he  did  not  get  his 
knowledge  from  the  legend,  it  must  have  come  from  Brother  Leo's 
rotuli. 

The  principal  witness  for  the  existence  of  Brother  Leo's  schedules 
is  Ubertius  or  Hubert  of  Casale  (1259-ca.  1338).  This  contender 
for  original  Franciscanism  was  living  in  the  year  1305  on  Mt. 
Alverna,  and  there  in  the  course  of  seven  months  wrote  his  great 
work,  Arbor  vita  crucifixes,  completed  the  Michaelmas  Eve  of  the 
same  year.2 

Hubert  himself  had  not  known  the  "ancient  Brothers,"  antiqui 
fratres,  now  the  accepted  designation  of  the  last  of  the  original 
disciples,  but  through  Brother  Conrad  of  Offida  (d.  1306)  heard 
much  of  what  Brother  Leo,  Brother  Masseo  and  others  had  told 
about  St.  Francis.  In  his  youth  he  had  been  in  Greccio,  and  in 
this  little  mountain  convent,  that  hangs  on  the  cliffs  like  a  swal- 
low's nest,  he  had  sat  at  the  feet  of  John  of  Parma,  "looked  into 
his  angelic  face"  and  heard  him  tell  about  Francis  and  about  the 
great  departed  ones,  who  had  lived  and  written  in  his  cloister  — 
Leo,  Angelo,  Rufino.  John  of  Parma  died  March  19  or  20,  1289, 
and  Hubert's  residence  with  him  was  four  years  before  his  death. 
The  impression  from  the  early  years  of  his  youth  could  never  be 
weakened,  and  the  holy  fire,  which  the  great  Franciscan  from  Parma 
had  lit,  was  nourished  through  Hubert's  friendship  with  Conrad 
of  Offida  and  his  narrations.3 

In  the  fifth  book,  third  chapter,  of  Arbor  vita  Hubert  gives  a 
whole  quantity  of  quotations  of  the  words  of  St.  Francis  which 
Brother  Leo  had  written  down  with  his  own  hand  and  which  were 
preserved  in  St.  Clara's  convent  in  Assisi.  "Unfortunately," 
Hubert  adds,  "I  hear  that  these  notes,  at  any  rate  in  part,  cannot 

1  Spec,  perf.,  p.  140,  n.  1.    Tilemann,  p.  87. 

2  Arbor  vite  crucifixe  Jesu,  Venice,  1485,  fol.  2D2:  terminavi  in  vigilia  Mi- 
chaelis  Archangeli  anni  presentis  MCCCV  a  felicissimo  ortu  veri  solis  Jesu. 
A  mei  vero  vili  conversione  anno  XXXII  .  .  .  septem  mensium  tempore 
duravit  huius  libri  tractatus. 

3  (Hubert  on  his  relations  with  John  of  Parma) :  Nam  et  ego  tunc  juvenis 
.  .  .  quarto  anno  ante  eius  felicem  transitum  expressum  verbum  audivi  ab 
eius  ore  santissimo,  intuens  in  eius  angelicam  faciem.  (Arbor  vite,  fol.  210b.) 
Compare  Salimbene,  p.  317. 


THE      SPECULUM      PERFECTIONIS         389 

be  found  there  any  more  and  may  even  be  entirely  lost."  l  The 
passages  Hubert  thus  produces  are  now  found  in  Speculum  per- 
fections, capp.  1,  2,  26,  3,  71,  73,  4,  11. 

That  these  places  in  Leo's  schedules  were  also  in  part  derived 
from  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  follows  from  what  Hubert  says, 
that  ''Brother  Bonaventure  deliberately  omitted  using  them  in 
his  legend";  accordingly  he  had  them  before  him  for  use,  but  he 
seemed  to  think  it  was  proper  to  pass  them  by.2 

That  this  does  not  need  to  be  the  very  Speculum  perjectionis 
which  Hubert  alludes  to  (as  Sabatier  would  have  it),  Lemmens 
has  proved  by  publishing  from  a  manuscript  of  the  fourteenth 
century  in  S.  Isidore  in  Rome  two  small  pieces  written  by  Brother 
Leo  with  the  titles:  "Book  concerning  St.  Francis'  design  with  his 
Rule"  and  "Words  which  Brother  Leo  wrote,"  and  in  which  the 
places  quoted  by  Hubert  are  to  be  found.3 

Six  years  after  having  written  the  Arbor  vita  Hubert  of  Casale 
stood  before  the  Curia  in  Avignon  to  answer  the  complaints  which 
the  advocates  of  the  slack  direction  of  the  Order,  Raimond  of  Fron- 
sac  and  Bonagratia  of  Bergamo,  had  made  against  him  and  the 
other  fratres  spirituales.  Again  it  was  —  outside  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan Rule  and  St.  Francis'  Testament  —  Brother  Leo's  narra- 
tions to  which  Hubert  appealed  when  he  showed  that  the  strict 
interpretation  of  the  spiritual  Brothers  was  based  upon  the  very 
words  of  Francis,  "which  was  solemnly  written  by  the  holy  man, 
Leo,  his  companion,  both  by  the  command  of  the  holy  father, 
as  well  as  from  devotion  of  the  said  Brother,  and  which  are  found 
in  the  book  which  is  kept  in  the  library  of  the  Friars  of  Assisi 
and  in  those  rolls  which  I  have  with  me,  written  by  the  hand  of 
the  same  Brother  Leo."  4 

1  quod  sequitur  a  sancto  fratre  Conrado  praedicto  et  viva  voce  audivit  a 
sancto  fratre  Leone,  qui  praesens  erat.  .  .  Et  hoc  ipsum  in  quibusdam  rotulis 
manu  sua  conscripsit,  quos  commendavit  in  monasterio  sancte  Clare  custo- 
diendos  .  .  .  cum  multo  dolore  audivi  illos  rotulos  fuisse  distractos  et  forsitan 
perditos,  maxime  quosdam  ex  eis  (fol.  222a). 

2  quae  industria  frater  Bonaventura  omisit  et  noluit  in  legenda  publice 
scriberi,  maxime  quia  aliqua  erant  ibi  in  quibus  etiam  ex  tunc  deviatio  regulae 
publice  monstrabatur  (Arbor  vitce,  loc.  cit.). 

3  Documenta  antiqua  franciscana,  ed.  Fr.  Leonardus  Lemmens.  I.  Scripta 
fratris  Leonis  (Quaracchi  1901).  Even  if  Gotz  ("Quellen"  p.  153,  n.  1)  is 
correct  in  his  view,  that  we  have  not  Brother  Leo's  writings  in  their  original 
form,  we  nevertheless  can,  by  the  help  of  Lemmens'  manuscript,  form  a  con- 
ception of  what  Brother  Leo's  "schedules"  were. 

4  sua  verba  expressa,  quae  per  sanctum  virum  Leonem  eius  socium  tarn  de 
mandato  sancti  patris  quam  etiam  de  devotione  praedicti  fratris  fuerunt  solem- 
niter  conscripta  in  libro,  qui  habetur  in  armario  fratrum  de  Assisio,  et  in  rotulis 


390  AUTHORITIES 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  make  Hubert  contradict  him- 
self, by  noting  that  he  in  13 11  declared  that  he  possessed  the 
writings  of  Brother  Leo  and  then  wrote  in  1305  that  they  were 
partly  lost.  But,  as  Gotz  has  suggested  in  answer  to  this  attack, 
there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  supposing  that  Hubert's  com- 
plaint in  Arbor  vita  can  very  well  have  brought  about  a  new  col- 
lection of  Leo's  rotuli,  and  it  is  reasonable  that  he  himself  took 
interest  in  the  affair  and  got  the  papers  into  his  own  hands  in 
order  to  secure  them  from  destruction.1 

That  the  compilation  of  the  Speculum  perfectionis  in  13 18  has 
some  kind  of  connection  with  these  efforts  of  Hubert  follows 
almost  of  itself.  The  relations  within  the  Franciscan  Order  were 
such  that  a  resurrection  of  the  spirit  of  the  first  days  of  the  Order 
was  badly  needed.  In  the  years  1317-1318  "the  zealous  ones" 
were  hard  pressed;  April  27,  131 7,  John  XXII  called  them  anew 
to  a  reckoning  in  Avignon,  in  spite  of  Hubert's  assertions  and 
explanations  six  years  before.  The  "zealous  ones"  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  winning  the  Pope  to  their  side;  in  October  of  the  same 
year  he  declared  himself  against  them.  Other  Papal  announce- 
ments of  this  time  were  directed  against  them  or  against  the  related, 
but  heretical,  Fraticelli.  It  was  then  that  Angelo  Clareno  wrote 
his  letter  of  defence  to  the  Pope  to  free  the  Brethren  of  the 
strict  observance  from  all  false  accusations.  And  at  the  same  time 
there  was  issued  from  Portiuncula  as  illustrative  of  the  requirements 
of  the  Franciscan  Rule  in  the  matters  of  poverty,  obedience,  humility, 
etc.,  this  collection  of  incidents  of  the  Life  of  St.  Francis,  which 
explained  his  relation  to  all  these  virtues,  and  in  which  the  Friars 
Minor  of  the  fourteenth  century  could  see  themselves  as  in  a  looking- 
glass.2 

In  this  work  we  have  not  only  Brother  Leo's  schedule,  but  also 
all  that  Brother  Bernard,  Brother  Masseo  and  the  other  "old 
Brothers"  had  told  in  the  various  convents  and  which  had  been 
written  down  and  preserved. 

ejus,  quos  apud  me  habeo,  manu  ejusdem  fratris  Leonis  conscriptis.  (Hubert's 
Dedaratio,  cited  by  Sabatier,  Spec,  perf.,  p.  150.) 

In  the  catalogue  of  1381  of  the  convent  library  in  the  Sacro  Convento  in 
Assisi,  there  is  named  a  Liber  dictorum  beati  Francisci  in  papiro  et  sine  postibus, 
cuius  principium  est:  Quid  faciet  homo  in  omni  temptatione,  finis  vero:  Oratio, 
saepe  est  premittenda  insidias.  Like  so  many  manuscripts  of  this  kind  in 
the  above  library,  this  book  cannot  be  found.  (Da  Civezza-Dominichelli, 
p.  XCVII,  n.  1.) 

1  Gotz,  "Quellen"  p.  152. 

2Tilemann,  loc.  cit,  pp.  112-113. 


THE       LEGENDA      ANTIQUA  391 

b.  Legenda  antiqua 

The  years  following  directly  after  the  appearance  of  the  Specu- 
lum perfectionis  brought  better  times  for  the  ideal  party  within  the 
Order.  Gonzalvo  of  Balboa,  who  was  General  from  1303  to  13 16, 
and  Michael  of  Cesena  (1316-1328)  both  desired  to  restore  the 
old  spirit;  and  to  bring  this  about  the  last  named,  in  spite  of  the 
decree  of  1263,  used  to  have  read  at  meal-times,  even  in  the  great 
Franciscan  convent  at  Avignon,  a  legend  which  was  designated  as 
"the  old  legend,"  and  which  therefore  was  not  Bonaventure's  new 
one.  That  he  risked  something  in  doing  so  he  very  well  knew, 
and  he  therefore  had  it  announced  that  he  had  only  brought 
forward  this  legend  to  show  that  even  it,  without  any  criticism  of 
Bonaventure,  was  "true,  useful,  authentic  and  good."1 

Under  the  title  Legenda  antiqua  several  manuscripts  have  been 
preserved  in  reasonable  accordance  with  each  other,  the  most 
important  in  the  library  of  the  Vatican.  In  the  preface  to  this 
manuscript  we  are  told  that  although  "Herr  Mester  Bonaven- 
tura's"  work  is  beautiful  and  good,  yet  there  are  several  things, 
both  notable  and  useful,  omitted  therefrom,  such  as  Francis' 
zeal  for  poverty,  for  humility,  for  charity,  for  the  exact  observance 
of  the  Rule,  of  which  a  part  can  be  read  in  the  "old  legend"  of 
which  Bonaventure  has  copied  a  great  part,  and  long  passages 
word  for  word,  and  a  part  is  found  in  "true  words  of  the  friends  of 
St.  Francis,  which  are  put  into  writing  by  experienced  men  in  the 
Order."  The  writer  says  that  he  knew  both  "the  old  legend" 
and  the  "true  words"  from  his  student  days  in  Avignon  when 
the  General  had  the  old  legend  read  at  meal- times;  to  this  he  adds 
in  the  present  manuscript  other  references  to  a  book  which  be- 
longed to  "our  honorable  father  and  lord,  Brother  Frederick, 
Archbishop  of  Riga,  a  very  learned  man  of  our  Order,"  together 
with  a  treatise  on  St.  Francis'  and  his  faithful  disciples'  lives 
and  actions.2 

1(Quaedam  vero  sumpta  et  reparata  sunt  de)  legenda  veteri  ipsius  sancti 
quam  et  generalis  minister  me  praesente  et  aliquoties  legente  fecit  sibi  et  fratri- 
bus  legi  ad  mensam  in  Avinione  ad  ostendendum  earn  esse  veram,  utilem  et 
autenticam  atque  bonam.  (Legenda  antiqua.  Sabatier,  Collection,  I,  pp. 
152-161,  and  Tilemann,  pp.  120-121.)  Compiler's  preface  to  the  Legenda 
antiqua,  Vatican  MS.  No.  4354.  The  MS.  contains  in  almost  unbroken 
sequence  57  chapters  of  Speculum  perfectionis,  along  with  a  quantity  of  other 
material,  especially  Actus  (Fioretti). 

2  plura  tamen  valde  notabilia  et  utilia,  zelum  caritatis,  humilitatis  et  pau- 
pertatis,  necnon  circa  praedictorum  et  regular  totius  observationem,  inten- 
tionem  et  voluntatem  ipsius  sancti  experimentia,  tarn  in  legenda  veteri,  de  qua 


392  AUTHORITIES 

A  Franciscan  from  the  provinces  about  the  Baltic  Sea,  who  had 
studied  in  Avignon  under  Michael  of  Cesena,  and  who  later  had 
access  to  a  book  about  St.  Francis  in  possession  of  the  Archbishop 
Frederick  of  Riga,  therefore  was  the  author  of  this  compilation. 
He  refers  to  various  authorities,  which  it  is  not  always  easy  to 
distinguish  from  one  another.  In  referring  to  the  "veritable 
words  of  St.  Francis'  friends,"  which  are  "put  into  manuscript 
by  reliable  men  in  our  Order,"  it  seems  clear  that  he  was  thinking 
of  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  which  at  this  time  had  just  been 
brought  out;  therefore  he  has,  also,  the  expressions  zelum  caritatis, 
humilitatis  et  paupertatis  as  titles  for  the  different  sections  of  the 
Speculum.  It  is  also  the  Speculum  which  treats  of  Francis'  zeal 
for  an  exact  observance  of  the  Rule. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  very  clear  what  kind  of  an  "old 
legend"  it  is  of  which  Bonaventure  has  copied  much,  but  has 
also  left  out  much  of  the  most  important  character.  Sabatier 
holds  that  this  is  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  but  Bonaventure 
used  nothing  of  this  (see  page  379,  n.  2).  It  is  more  reasonable, 
as  Tilemann  does,  to  consider  it  a  complete  Three  Brothers'  Legend.1 
Of  this  Bonaventure  used  much  and  left  out  more  —  something 
which  Hubert  of  Casale  complained  about.  This  must  be  the  book 
which  Michael  of  Cesena,  while  General,  used  to  have  read  at 
meal-times  in  Avignon. 

From  Bishop  Frederick's  book  the  compilers  have  only  taken 
a  few  miracles,  although  of  rare  and  impressive  nature  {rara  et 
ardua);  on  the  other  hand,  the  writings  of  St.  Francis'  friends 
seem  to  be  a  more  important  source  in  which  his  and  their  lives 
and  actions  are  told  of.     This  collection,  in  connection  with  which 


idem  fr.  Bonaventura  saepius  longas  orationes  et  passus  de  verbo  ad  verbum  in 
suam  legendam  posuit,  quam  etiam  ex  dictis  veridicis  sanctorum  sociorum  b. 
Francisci  per  viros  probatos  ordinis  redactis  in  scriptis,  quorum  sociorum  vita 
sancta  .  .  .  ipsorum  dicta  et  testimonia  credibilia  reddit,  in  imis  cum  essem 
studens  in  Avinione  reperi,  quorum  aliqua  .  .  .  collegi  et  inferius  annotavi. 

Posui  autem  primo  rara  et  ardua  facta  seu  miracula  patris  nostri  quae  in 
legenda  nova,  ut  praedicitur,  non  habentur;  quorum  qusedam  in  libro  reverendi 
patris  et  domini  fratris  Friderici  archiepiscopi  Rigensis,  ordinis  nostri  studi- 
osissimi  viri.  .  .  .  Quaedam  vero  sumpta  et  reparata  sunt  de  legenda  veteri 
ipsius  sancti  quam  et  generalis  minister  me  praesente  et  aliquoties  legente 
fecit  sibi  et  fratribus  legi  ad  mensam  in  Avinione.  .  .  .  Nonnulla  vero  sumpta 
de  scriptis  sanctorum  sancti  praedicti  sociorum,  vitam  sancti  et  gesta,  socio- 
rumque  sanctorum  ejus  experimentia.  .  .  .  Demum  etiam  quaedam  de  sancto 
Antonio  rara  scripsi  et  de  sancto  fratre  Johanne  de  Alvernia.  .  .  .  (Printed  in 
Sabatier  and  Tilemann,  as  above.) 

1  Sabatier,  Spec,  perf.,  p.  153,  n.  1.     Tilemann,  p.  123. 


THE      ACTUS  393 

the  author  of  the  preface  gives  some  narrations  about  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua  and  about  Brother  John  of  Mt.  Alverna,  reveals  itself 
thereby  as  identical  with  the  Actus  b.  Francis ci  et  sociorum  ejus; 
that  is  to  say,  with  the  ancient  text  of  the  Fioretti,  of  whose  chap- 
ters so  very  many  are  devoted  to  St.  Anthony  and  the  ecstatic 
Brother  from  Alverna. 

The  compilers  entitled  all  this  material  Legenda  antiqua,  under 
the  impression  of  a  certain  concordance,  both  with  each  other  and 
with  the  "old  legends"  read  in  Avignon.  As  the  Franciscan 
Frederick  Baron  was  Archbishop  of  Riga  from  1304  till  his  death 
in  1340,1  it  must  have  been  written  during  this  period.  As  the 
Speculum  perfectionis  is  quoted  in  it,  the  authorship  of  the  work 
must  be  later  than  13 18.  As  the  Pope  in  1328  removed  Michael 
of  Cesena,  and  the  preface  shows  no  knowledge  of  this  punish- 
ment of  the  bold  churchman,  we  have  to  concede  that  the  collec- 
tion belongs  between  13 18  and  1328. 

c.  Actus  beati  Francis  ci  et  sociorium  ejus 
(" Fioretti") 

This  manuscript  is  older  than  the  Legenda  antiqua,  the  compiler 
of  which  has  adopted  a  great  part  of  it  and  cites  it  as  one  of  his 
sources.  It  appears  in  many  manuscripts  united  and  even  mixed 
in  with  the  Speculum  perfectionis;  possibly  it  can  be  regarded  in 
part  as  the  remains  of  the  narrations,  unavailable  for  the  last  named 
work,  that  are  told  by  "the  ancient  Brothers." 

The  core  of  the  Actus  is  the  group  of.  tales  which  relate  to 
Brother  Bernard,  Brother  Masseo,  Brother  Rufino,  Brother 
Silvester,  St.  Clara  and  Brother  Leo;  undoubtedly  this  part  of 
the  work  had  its  origin  in  the  real  Franciscan  tradition,  of  whose 
richness  we  may  form  an  idea  when  we  remember  that  tales  such 
as  those  about  Brother  Leo,  who  said  the  Breviary  with  St.  Fran- 
cis and  always  answered  wrongly,  or  such  as  those  about  the  per- 
fect joy,  were  here  first  put  into  writing.2 

On  this  foundation  a  series  of  chapters  about  other  promi- 
nent Franciscans  were  subsequently  erected;  Brother  Conrad  of 

1  Sabatier,  Collection,  I,  p.  158,11.  1;  IV,  p.  17,  n.  1.  Eubel:  Hierarchia 
cath.,  p.  442. 

2  The  origin  of  one  chapter  is  explained  by  Brother  Leo  in  the  work  itself, 
the  proof  coming  through  a  succession  of  witnesses.     See  close  of  chapter  9: 

Hanc  historiam  habuit  frater  Jacobus  de  Massa  ab  ore  fratris  Leonis  et 
frater  Hugolinus  de  monte  Sancta  Mariae  ab  ore  dicti  fratris  Jacobi,  et  ego 
qui  scripsi  ab  ore  fratris  Hugolini  viri  per  omnia  fide  digni.  (Actus,  ed.  Saba- 
tier, p.  39.) 


394 


AUTHORITIES 


Offida,  Brother  Giles,  Brother  John  of  La  Verna  (d.  1322)  here 
play  a  prominent  role.  Sabatier  believes  that  he  can  indicate 
Brother  Hugolin  of  Monte  Giorgio  as  the  author  of  this  portion,  of 
whom  we  know  nothing  else  than  that  he  was  called  by  Celestin  V 
to  fill  the  Bishop's  throne  in  Teramo  in  the  Abruzzi,  while  Boni- 
face VIII,  on  December  12,  1295,  cancelled  this  selection.1  Some- 
times Brother  Hugolin  seemed  to  appear  as  the  author  of  the  work; 
thus  in  Chap.  LXIX,  21,  "and  all  these  things  Brother  John  him- 
self told  me,  Hugolin."  In  other  places,  as  in  the  end  of  Chap.  IX, 
Hugolin  was  referred  to  by  the  author  as  the  original  source,  as  a 
link  in  the  chain,  which  by  Brother  Jacob  of  Massa  leads  back 
to  Brother  Leo.2  The  whole  question  is,  however,  of  secondary 
importance;  the  principal  thing  is  that  in  the  Actus  —  of  which 
the  Fioretti  is  the  Italian  translation  or  development  —  we  have  a 
series  of  Franciscan  traditions  collected  with  diligence,  of  which 
many  never  strayed  far  from  the  convent  in  Greccio,  where  Leo, 
Angelo,  and  Rufino  two  generations  earlier  plucked  their  flores. 

From  the  first  Franciscan  centuries  many  works  could  be  named 
which  in  any  case  have  a  certain  degree  of  value  as  sources,  such 
as  the  manuscript  Actus  b.  Francisci  in  valle  Reatina,  improperly 
ascribed  to  Angelo  Tancredi,  and  of  which  some  pages  are  printed 
in  Sabatier's  edition  of  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  pp.  256  et  al; 
Brother  Francesco  Bartholi's  book  on  the  Portiuncula  Indulgence 
of  about  1335,  published  by  Sabatier  in  the  second  volume  of  his 
Collection  d' etudes,  Paris,  1900;  finally  Commercium  beati  Francisci 
cum  domina  paupertate  (perhaps  written  in  1227  by  John  of  Parma, 
edited  by  Alvisi,  Citta  di  Castello,  1894,  and  by  d'Alencon,  Rome, 
1900),  a  work  which  has  significance,  since  Dante  evidently  derived 
from  it  the  principal  idea  for  his  celebrated  lines  about  St.  Francis 
in  the  eleventh  Canto  of  77  Paradiso. 

Moreover,  after  the  publication  of  the  Speculum  and  the  Actus, 
there  came  a  time  of  compilation,  of  combination  and  even  con- 
fusion. If  it  is  a  question  of  titles,  they  are  mixed  together,  and 
thus  the  great  work  of  Brother  Fabian  of  Hungary  appears  as 
Speculum  vitce  beati  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus,  written  in  the  last 
half  of  the  fourteenth  century  and  published  in  Venice  in  1504, 
and  many  times  since  then  in  more  or  less  changed  and  impaired 
forms,  eventually  (Cologne,  1623)  as  Antiquitates  franciscanae, 
"written  by  Brothers  Fabian,  Hugolin,  and  other  Friars  Minor 

1  Actus,  ed.  Sabatier,  p.  20. 

2  The  best  editions  of  the  Italian  Fioretti  are  those  of  Caesari  (Verona, 
1822),  and  of  Fornaciari  (Florence,  1902,  Collezione  Diamante). 


HISTORIES       OF      THE      ORDER  395 

contemporaneous  with  the  divine  Francis"  l  (!)  The  author  tells 
about  himself,  that  he  visited  Mt.  Alverna  in  the  year  1343. 
Probably  he  is  identical  with  the  Brother  Fabian  from  Hungary 
who  in  1330  and  1337  was  Inquisitor  in  Hungary  and  Bosnia.2 

A  working  over  of  all  the  important  material,  which  little  by 
little  accumulated,  is  what  we  have  in  Bartholomew  of  Pisa's 
Conformitates,  that  series  of  parallels  between  Christ  and  Francis 
which  are  carried  out  with  such  great  acuteness  and  comprehensive 
scope  of  learning.  Bartholomew  of  Pisa's  work,  which  was  begun 
in  1385  and  was  received  at  the  Chapter  of  the  Order  in  Pisa 
August  2,  1399,  with  thanks  and  praise,  is  founded  on  the  most 
exact  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  information,  combined  with  a 
critical  sense  of  their  values.  "Of  this  thing  or  of  that  thing," 
one  can  thus  see  him  declare,  "  I  have  not  found  anything  in  authen- 
tic sources,  but  on  the  other  hand  they  are  shown  in  pictures  and 
inscriptions  in  several  places.  My  Brother  Bonaventure  does  not 
tell  this  in  his  legend,  his  reason  being  unknown  to  me,  because 
it  is  partly  told  by  Bernard  of  Bessa  and  partly  confirmed  by  a 
document  witnessed  by  a  notary  public."  3  This  comparative  and 
discursive  method  of  progress  we  usually  find  in  Bartholomew  of 
Pisa,  and  his  method  is  a  predecessor  of  modern  methods. 

Ill  — OTHER    SOURCES 

a.  Histories  of  the  Order 

I.  Jordanus  of  Giano's  Chronicle  of  the  Franciscan  arrival  in 
Germany.  It  begins  with  Francis's  conversion  in  1207  and  ends 
1238.  Brother  Jordanus  himself  tells  how  he,  "in  the  year  of  the 
Lord  1262,  after  the  Chapter  in  Halberstadt,  remained  in  the  same 
convent  where  the  Chapter  was  held"  and  there  dictated  his  book 
to  Brother  Balduin  of  Brandenburg.4    While  Jordanus'  Chronicle 

1  auctoribus  ff.  Fabiano  et  Hugolino  et  aliis  minoribus  Divo  Francisco 
coaevis,  castigatore  autem  et  emendatore  R.  P.  Philippo  Bosquierio.  .  .  . 
Coloniae,  MDCXXIIL 

2  Analecta  Franciscana,  III,  pp.  q-io? 

3  De  isto  in  loco  authentico  non  reperi,  sed  depictum  et  scriptum  in  pluribus 
locis  inveni.  Sed  de  nullo  praefatorum  dominus  fr.  Bonaventura  facit  men- 
tionem,  et  quid  fuerit  in  causa  ignoro:  cum  tamen  de  primo  dictus  Bernardus 
Bessa  facit  mentionem,  et  secundum  de  scriptura  publica  notarii  reperi  Flor- 
entiae  transscriptum.     (Conformitates,  1510,  p.  149a.) 

4  Anno  ergo  Domini  MCCLXII  post  .  .  .  capitulum  Halberstadense  .  .  . 
in  loco  capituli  remanentes,  me  narrante  et  fratre  Baldawino  scribente  .  .  . 
qui  et  sponte  et  a  frate  Bartholomaeo,  tunc  ministro  Saxoniae,  jussus  se 
obtulit  ab  scribendum.     (Anal.  Franciscana,  I,  p.  1.) 


396  AUTHORITIES 

is  considered  by  several,  such  as  Carl  Miiller  and  van  Ortroy,  as 
an  authority  of  the  first  rank  from  the  point  of  view  of  chronology, 
it  is  proper  to  remember  that  Jordanus  himself,  on  the  first  page  of 
his  book,  remarks  that  he  now  is  an  old  man,  and  therefore  can 
easily  make  an  error  in  one  or  the  other  of  his  dates.1 

Jordanus'  Chronicle  was  first  published  by  G.  Voigt  (Memora- 
bilia des  Minoriten  lord.  v.  Giano"  in  " Abhandlungen  der  sachs. 
Gesellschaft  der  Wissenschaften,"  philos.-hist.  Klasse,  1870); 
later,  after  a  Berlin  manuscript  in  Analecta  Franciscana,  I  (Qua- 
racchi,  1885).  A  new  and  complete  edition  is  announced  (1905)  by 
H.  Boehmer  as  the  second  volume  of  Sabatier's  Opuscules. 

II.  The  first  volume  of  the  Analecta  Franciscana  contains  Brother 
Thomas  Eccleston's  Chronicle  of  the  Brothers'  coming  to  England, 
including  the  period  1224  to  1250,  written  1264  to  1274.  The  first 
edition  is  by  Brewer  in  Rer.  brit.  script.:  Monumenta  Franciscana,  I 
(London,  1858),  and  Howlett,  same,  Vol.  II  (London,  1882). 

III.  Salimbene1  s  Chronicle.  Brother  Salimbene  degli  Adami  of 
Parma  —  or,  as  he  at  home  and  among  friends  was  called,  Omne- 
bonum,  "All  good"  —  was  born  on  October  9,  1221,  and  entered 
the  Franciscan  Order  in  1238.  He  knew  Brother  Bernard  of  Quin- 
tavalle,  with  whom  he  spent  a  winter  in  the  convent  in  Siena, 
and  from  whose  lips  he  and  the  other  young  men  heard  many 
great  things  about  St.  Francis;  he  also  knew  Brother  Leo,  who  told 
him  that  St.  Francis  after  his  death  looked  exactly  like  one  who 
had  been  crucified  and  taken  down  from  the  Cross,  as  well  as  the 
last  Brothers  whom  St.  Francis  received  into  the  Order,  and  whom 
Salimbene  met  in  a  hermitage  near  Civita  di  Castello  (presumably 
Monte  Casale).2  His  Chronicle,  written  1282-1287,  covers  the 
years  1 167-1287;  the  edition  published  at  Parma  in  1857  is  incom- 
plete and  contains  only  the  period  1 212-1287.  See  Em.  Michael, 
Salimbene  und  seine  Chronik  (Innsbruck,  1889). 

IV.  Catalogue  of  the  first  twenty-four  Generals  of  the  Order. 
Originally  written  about  1297,  continued  later  up  to  1305.     It  was 

1  Super  annorum  vero  numero  sicubi  per  oblivionem,  utpote  jam  senex  et 
debilis,  ut  homo  erravi,  veniam  postulo  ab  lectore  (ibid.,  p.  2). 

2  sicut  dixit  mihi  frater  Leo  socius  suus  ...  in  morte  videbatur  recte  sicut 
unus  crucifixus  de  cruce  depositus.  {Chronica,  p.  75.)  A  sociis  vero  et  a 
familia  dicebar  Omnibonum.  .  .  .  Cumque  de  Marchia  Anconitana  irem  ad 
habitandum  in  Tusciam  et  transirem  per  Civitatem  de  Castello,  inveni  in 
heremo  quendam  nobilem  fratrem  antiquum  .  .  .  qui  IIII  filios  milites  habe- 
bat  in  saeculo.  Hie  fuit  ultimus  frater,  quem  b.  Franciscus  et  induit  et  recepit 
ad  ordinem,  ut  retulit  mihi.  .  .  .  Vidi  etiam  et  primum  sc.  fr.  Bernardum  de 
Quintavalle,  cum  quo  in  conventu  Senensi  uno  hyeme  habitavi  .  .  .  et  mihi  et 
aliis  juvenibus  de  beato  Francisco  multa  magnalia  referebat  (Chronica,  p.  11). 


HISTORIES      OF      THE      ORDER  397 

already  published  in  1504  in  the  Speculum  vitae,  then  in  the  third 
volume  of  Analecta  Franciscana,  by  Ehrle  in  "Zeitschcr.  f.  kath. 
Theologie, "  VII  (Innsbruck,  1883),  p.  338, and  in  P.  Hilarin  Felder's 
edition  of  Bernard  of  Bessa  (Rome,  1897). 

V.  The  Chronicles  of  the  {first)  twenty-four  Generals  of  the  Order. 
The  author  of  this  work,  of  which  a  great  part  of  the  material  is 
taken  from  the  Actus  b.  Francisci,  was  a  Franciscan  from  the 
Province  of  Aquitania,  because  this  province  was  the  only  one 
the  names  of  whose  Generals  he  knew.  Wadding  (1373,  n.  24; 
1374,  n.  16)  believes  that  the  author  might  be  that  Brother  Arnold 
of  Serrano  of  whom  Bartholomew  of  Pisa  (Conformitates,  I, 
fructus  XI)  tells  us  that  he  "wrote  out  all  he  could  find  about 
the  blessed  Francis."  Gregory  XI  sent  this  Brother  Arnold  to 
Spain  to  reform  the  convents  of  the  Minorites  and  Clares  in  Castile. 
As  a  consequence  of  the  Civil  War  many  Brothers  and  Sisters 
of  this  country  were  driven  out  of  their  convents  and  wandered 
about,  while  at  the  same  time  in  many  convents  "  irregular  cus- 
toms and  abuses"  had  been  introduced  (irregular es  consuetudines 
et  deformitates) . 

Chronica  XXIV  generalium,  which  is  its  Latin  title,  was  written 
in  its  essential  parts  before  1369.  Under  headings  1327  and  1360 
the  author  expresses  his  wishes  for  the  canonization  of  the  pious 
royal  pair  Elzear  and  Delphina,  which  took  place  in  1369.  The 
Chronicle  begins  by  relating  the  history  of  St.  Francis  and  the 
earlier  Brothers,  and  is  continued  down  to  1374.  Its  author  had 
the  best  sources  for  his  work;  thus  we  can  recognize  material 
from  Celano's  two  biographies,  from  the  traditional  Three  Broth- 
ers' Legend,  from  St.  Bonaventure  and  Bernard  of  Bessa.  It  is 
doubtful  if  Brother  Arnold  used  Salimbene  and  Eccleston;  on  the 
other  hand  he  has  taken  much  from  Speculum  vitae,  Legenda  antiqua 
(as  these  are  now  extant  in  the  Vatican,  Manuscript  43  54)  and  from 
the  Actus  (Fioretti),  and  from  Hubert  of  Casale.  He  has  further- 
more drawn  upon  a  collection,  Dicta  fratris  Leonis  ("Sayings  of 
Brother  Leo"),  from  a  now  lost  Chronicon  breve,  that  is  ascribed 
to  Brother  Pilgrim  of  Bologna,uand  finally  used  verbal  tradition. 
His  work  was  used  a  great  deal  by  Mariano  of  Florence,  Marcus 
of  Lisbon,  Rudolf  of  Tossignano  and  Wadding.  It  is  published 
in  Analecta  Franciscana,  III  (Quaracchi,  1897). 

VI.  John  of  Komorowo's  Chronicle  is  especially  devoted  to  the 
Order's  Polish  province,  was  written  about  151 2,  and  comes  down 

1  See  Sbaralea:  Supplementum  ad  Scriptores  trium  ordinum,  p.  579,  and 
Denifle  in  "Archiv  f.  Litt.  u.  Kgsch.,"  I,  p.  145. 


398  AUTHORITIES 

to  1503.  It  is  published  by  Zeissberg  in  Archiv.  f.  osterr.  Gesch., 
Bd.  49  (1872).  Brother  John  died  in  1536  and  wrote  the  year 
before  his  death  a  Memoriale  ordinis  fratrum  minorum,  published, 
1886,  by  Liske  and  Lorkiewicz.  See  Eubel  in  Historisches  Jahr- 
buch,  1889,  pp.  383  ff-,  57o  ff- 

VII.  Glassberger's  Chronicle.  Nicholas  Glassberger  entered  the 
Franciscan  Order  in  the  year  1472  and  for  some  time  was  confessor 
for  the  Clares  in  Nuremberg.  He  was  a  very  diligent  writer,  who 
among  other  things  copied  with  his  own  hand  the  Chronica  XXIV 
generalhwi,  together  with  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend;  a  Tyrolean 
manuscript  of  this  work  from  his  hand  contains  the  following 
concluding  note:  "The  eve  of  the  Vigil  of  Christmas  in  the  year 
of  the  Lord  1491  ends  for  me,  Brother  Nicholas  Glassberger,  in 
great  cold  and  discomfort,  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  weather."  1 
In  1498  he  published  Brother  Louis  of  Prussia's  Trilogium  animae, 
and  in  1 508  he  was  progressing  with  the  writing  of  his  Chronicle. 
He  had  for  his  authorities  the  Chronicle  of  the  twenty-four  Gen- 
erals, the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  and  Bartholomew  of  Pisa;  the 
Friars'  establishment  in  Germany  he  described  after  Giordano  of 
Giano;  finally  he  quotes  also  Brother  Jacob  Oddi's  Italian  Chron- 
icle of  the  fifteenth  century.2 

Glassberger's  Chronicle  is  published  in  the  Analecta  Franciscana, 
II  (Quaracchi,  1887).  See  Eubel  in  Hist.  Jahrbuch,  1899,  pp.  376 
et  seq. 

VIII.  Writings  of  Angelo  Clareno.  This  celebrated  leader  of 
the  " Zealous"  among  the  Brothers  (i  zelanti)  was  also  called  Peter 
of  Fossombrone.  He  entered  the  convent  in  Cingole  and  from 
1265  joined  the  zelanti  in  Mark  Ancona.  Of  the  first  disciples  he 
knew  Brother  Angelo  of  Rieti,  Brother  Giles,  Brother  Leo  (see 
page,  382,  n.  3),  and  the  Brother  John,  otherwise  unknown,  who  is 

1  Explicit  in  provigilia  nativitatis  Dni,  1491,  per  me  fratrem  Nicolaum  Glass- 
berger in  magno  frigore  et  incommoditate  juxta  tempo ris  qualitatem.  (Anal. 
Franc,  II,  p.  5.) 

2  Giacomo  da  Oddi  from  Perugia  was  guardian  in  Portiuncula  convent  about 
1485  and  in  1474  wrote  his  Specchio  delV  Ordine  minor  e,  usually  called  la  Fran- 
ceschina.  The  original  manuscript  is  now  in  Communal  Library  in  Perugia 
and  formerly  belonged  to  the  Franciscan  convent  of  Monte  Ripido  near  Perugi. 
When  in  the  chronicle  of  the  Convent  of  the  Clares  of  Monte  Luce  for  the  year 
1574,  under  the  date  of  February  5,  it  is  said  of  this  book,  that  it/w  gia  composto 
da  un  reverendo  padre  chiamato  fra  Edigio  da  Perugia,  there  is  undoubtedly  a 
confusion  with  the  writings,  which  are  due  to  the  celebrated  disciple  of  St. 
Francis  of  this  name.  (Aegidio  in  English  is  Giles.)  La  Franceschina  contains 
much  material  of  interest  by  some  third  writer.  See  Miscellanea  Francescana, 
VI,  37;  LV,  87,  127,  146-150. 


HISTORIES       OF      THE       ORDER  399 

mentioned  in  the  prologue  to  the  Three  Brothers1  Legend.1  He 
died  June  15,  1339,  in  Santa  Maria  de  Aspro,  near  the  city  of 
Marsico  in  south  Italy.  Of  him  Sabatier  says:  "  We  see  in  him 
the  revival  of  a  true  Franciscan,  one  of  those  men  who,  while 
entirely  desirous  of  being  submissive  sons  of  the  Church,  could 
not  resign  themselves  to  permitting  the  ideal  which  they  had 
embraced  to  disappear  in  the  realm  of  imagination.  They  often 
came  near  to  heresy;  in  their  words  against  the  bad  priests  and 
unworthy  pontiffs  there  is  a  bitterness  which  the  sectaries  of  the 
sixteenth  century  would  not  exceed.  .  .  .  And  yet  Protestantism 
would  do  wrong  in  seeking  their  ancestors  among  these.  No,  they 
wished  to  die,  as  they  had  lived,  in  the  communion  of  this  Church, 
which  they  loved  with  a  heroic  passion,  the  same  with  which  certain 
former  French  noblemen,  even  in  1793,  loved  France,  and  poured 
out  their  blood  for  it,  although  it  was  governed  by  the  Jacobins." 

As  the  essence  of  the  doctrine  of  Angelo  Clareno's  spiritual 
doctrines,  Sabatier  quotes  the  following  beautiful  words  in  one  of 
his  letters:  Totum  igitur  studium  esse  debet  quod  unum  insepara- 
biliter  simus  per  Franciscum  in  Christo,  "Our  whole  desire  should 
be  that  we  are  inseparably  one  in  Christ  through  Francis,"  and 
Sabatier  ends  his  description  of  him  thus: 

"Clareno  and  his  friends  were  of  those  violent  souls  who  would 
assail  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Thus  when,  at  the  end  of  the 
frivolities  and  sterile  preoccupations  of  the  every-day  world,  we 
find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  these  men,  we  are  at  once  humbled 
and  uplifted,  for  we  find  suddenly,  hidden  in  human  hearts,  hitherto 
unexpected  powers  and  unknown  melody  controlled  by  them."  2 

Angelo  Clareno's  writings  fall  into  three  groups: 

(1)  Epistola  excusatoria,  an  apology  for  his  and  his  friends'  re- 
form movement,  presented  to  Pope  John  XXII  in  the  year  13 17. 
It  is  published  by  Ehrle  (Archiv  f.  Litt.  u.  Kirchengesch.,1, pp.  521  ff .). 

(2)  " Letter-book "  (Liber  epistolarum  beati  Angeli  de  Clareno). 
The  Augustinian  hermit  Simon  of  Cassia  (according  to  Ossinger, 
Biblioth.  Augustiniana,  p.  214;  d.  February  2,  1340)  brought  out  a 
collection  of  letters  of  his  friend  and  teacher  Angelo.  It  is,  how- 
ever, uncertain  that  this  collection  is  quite  identical  with  those  in 
two  manuscripts  still  in  existence.  Part  of  the  letters  were  written 
from  Avignon  (1311-1318),  part  from  the  vicinity  of  Rome  (1318- 
ca.  1336),  some  finally  from  S.  Maria  de  Aspro.  A  selection  of 
the  letters  is  given  by  Ehrle  (Archiv  I,  pp.  543-569). 

1  Ehrle,  "Archiv"  II,  p.  279.     Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Franqois  (1894),  p.  CV. 

2  Sabatier:  Vie  de  S.  Fr.  (1894),  Introduction,  pp.  CII-CIII. 


400  AUTHORITIES 

(3)  Historia  septem  tribulationum  ordinis  minorum.  "History 
of  the  seven  tribulations  of  the  Minorite  Order."  The  seven 
tribulations  which  according  to  Clareno  descended  upon  the  Order 
of  St.  Francis  are  (1)  The  Vicariate  of  Elias  of  Cortona,  (2)  his 
Generalship,  (3)  the  Generalship  of  Crescentius  of  Jesi,  (4)  the 
Generalship  of  Bonaventure,  (5)  the  persecutions  of  the  strict 
Franciscans  between  1274  and  1304  (from  the  council  of  Lyons 
to  the  death  of  the  Inquisitor,  Thomas  d'Aversas),  (6)  the  perse- 
cutions between  1308  and  1323  (the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the 
Speculum  perjectionis) ,  finally  (7)  the  Pontificate  of  John  XXII. 

"The  history  of  the  seven  tribulations"  occupied  in  its  writing 
a  long  series  of  years,  the  earliest  section  about  13 14,  the  latest 
about  1330.  It  is  incompletely  given  by  Ehrle  (Archiv  II,  pp. 
108-163  and  249-336).  A  complete  edition  was  prepared  by 
Felice  Tocco  for  Sabatier's  Collection  d' etudes  et  de  documents.1 


b.  Authorities  outside  of  the  Order 

1.  Papal  bulls  and  other  Instruments  of  diplomatic  or  judicial 
character.  To  this  belong  the  bulls  of  Honorius  III  and  Gregory 
IX,  and  letters  in  favor  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  in  Sbaralea's 
Bullarium  franciscanum  continued  by  Eubel,  and  in  Pressuti's 
and  Auvray's  new  edition  of  Registers  of  Honorius  III  and  Greg- 
ory IX.  Here  belongs  Hugolin's  Register  published  by  Levi  in 
Fonti  per  la  Storia  delV  Italia;  here  too  is  best  assigned  the  Count 

1  See  Ehrle's  various  treatments  of  the  Vienna  Council.  ("Archiv"  II, 
353-416  and  III,  1-195),  of  Petrus  Johannes  Olivi  ("Archiv"  III,  409-552), 
of  Fraticelli  and  Spirituals  ("Archiv"  I,  158-164,  II,  653-669,  III,  533  et 
seq.,  IV,  1-200.)  Ehrle's  edition  of  the  oldest  constitutions  of  the  Franciscan 
Order  is  also  important  ("Archiv  "  VI,  1-138).  It  contains  the  resolutions  of 
the  General  Chapters  from  before  1316,  after  older  printed  works  and  after 
16  different  manuscripts. 

The  following  may  be  counted  among  the  histories  of  the  Order: 

Mariano  of  Florence's  Chronicle,  which  goes  down  to  i486.  This  exists 
only  in  manuscript  and  was  used  by  Wadding.  Mariano  died  1527.  Notes 
on  his  life  and  work  have  been  collected  by  Sabatier  in  the  second  volume  of 
his  Collection  deludes,  pp.  137-146. 

Mark  of  Lisbon's  Chronicle,  written  in  Spanish  about  1550.  The  author 
died  about  1580.  It  came  out  in  Salamanca,  1626;  in  German  translation, 
Munich,  1720. 

Rudolph  of  Tossignano's  Historia  Seraphicce  religionis  (Venice,  1586). 

The  work  of  the  General  of  the  Order,  Gonzaga,  entitled  De  origine  sera- 
phiccB  religionis  (Rome,  1587.  Venice,  1603),  with  a  description  of  all  the 
Franciscan  convents. 

Henricus  Sedulius:  Historia  Seraphica  (Antwerp,  1613). 


VARIOUS      AUTHORITIES  401 

of  Chiusi's  Letter  of  Donation  of  La  Verna,  issued  July  9,  1274, 
and  reprinted  by  Sbaralea  in  Bull.  Franc,  IV,  p.  156. 

2.  Jacob  of  Vitry's  Letters  and  his  description  of  St.  Francis 
and  the  Franciscans  in  the  second  book  of  Historia  occidentalis. 
Of  the  letters,  one  was  written  in  Genoa,  October,  12 16.  the  second 
in  the  Holy  Land,  in  the  end  of  August,  1220,  after  personal  inter- 
course with  St.  Francis  before  Damietta  12 19.  They  are  therefore 
authorities  of  the  very  highest  value.  The  Historia  occidentalis, 
according  to  the  preface,  was  begun  about  1220  and  was  probably 
completed  before  the  return  from  the  Holy  Land  in  1227. 

The  first  letter  is  published  in  Nouvelles  memoires  de  Vacademie 
de  Bruxelles,  XXIII,  pp.  29-33,  and  in  better  shape  in  Brieger's 
"  Zeitschr.  f .  Kirchengesch.,"  XIV,  pp.  101-106.  The  second  letter 
is  given  in  Bongar's  Gesta  Dei  per  francos  (161 1,  pp.  1047  f»)«  His- 
toria occidentalis  was  printed  in  Douai  in  1597.  The  letters,  to- 
gether with  the  corresponding  chapters  of  the  Hist,  occ,  are  to  be 
found  in  Boehmer's  Analekten,  pp.  94-106. 

Jacob  of  Vitry  was  Canon  in  Oignies  in  northern  France,  after- 
wards was  Bishop  of  Acre  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  after  his  return 
was  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Frascati.     He  died  in  1244. 

3.  Thomas  of  Spalato's  (and  not,  as  Boehmer,  Analekten,  p. 
lxi,  erroneously  writes  it,  Spoleto)  Testimony  about  St.  Francis' 
preaching  in  Bologna  in  1220.  Printed  in  Sigonius,  De  episcopis 
Bononiensibus  (Bologna,  1586),  in  Monum.  Germ.  Scriptores  (XXX, 
p.  580),  in  Wadding,  1220,  n.  8,  and  in  Acta  Sanctorum  (Oct.  II, 
p.  842). 

4.  Finally,  a  series  of  contemporaneous  authors,  who  in  their 
writings  accord  St.  Francis  a  more  or  less  explicit  description,  such 
as  the  Dominican  Vincent  of  Beauvais  (d.  1264)  in  the  30th  and 
31st  books  of  his  Speculum  historiale;  his  fellow  Dominican  Jacob 
ofVaraggio  in  "The  Golden  Legend";  St.  Anthony  of  Florence  in 
the  third  part  (Tit.  24,  cap.  7)  of  his  chronicle;  Pietro  dei  Nadali 
(d.  shortly  before  1406)  in  his  Catalogus  sanctorum;  the  Abbot 
Albert  of  Stade  in  his  Annals;  the  unreliable  Matthew  of  Paris  in 
his  Historia  major,  etc. 

c.  Modern  Works 

1.  The  series  of  modern  authors  on  the  subject  of  St.  Francis 
begins  with  the  Irish  Franciscan,  Luke  Wadding.  This  zealous 
investigator  and  indefatigable  worker  treats  in  his  Annates  Mino- 
rum  (8  vols.,  Rome,  1625)  the  whole  of  the  history  of  St.  Francis, 
together  with  the  history  of  the  Order  up  to  1540.  His  work  has 
27 


402  AUTHORITIES 

only  one  defect,  but  which  was  not  his  fault  —  outside  of  St.  Bona- 
venture  he  only  knew  the  oldest  biographers  through  Bartholomew 
of  Pisa,  Mariano  of  Florence  and  Marcus  of  Lisbon.  It  is  the 
decree  of  1263  which  this  late  biographer  of  St.  Francis  had  to 
suffer  for. 

Candide  Chalippe's  well  known  and  much  read  book  on  St. 
Francis  (1728)  is  based  entirely  upon  Wadding's  Annals. 

2.  It  is  the  Bollandists,  first  Stilling  and  after  his  death  Suysken, 
to  whom  honor  is  due  for  having  again  brought  forward  a  part  of 
the  old  biographies.  In  the  second  October  volume  of  the  Acta 
Sanctorum,  published  1768,  Celano's  Vita  prima  and  the  traditional 
fragment  of  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend  are  printed  for  the  first  time, 
together  with  a  whole  series  of  fragments  of  Julian  of  Speier  and  the 
Anonymous  of  Perugia.  In  a  detailed  commentary  and  a  com- 
prehensive collection  of  Analecta,  still  further  material  is  collected. 
Carl  Hase's  biography  of  St.  Francis  of  1856  is  entirely  based  on 
this  material. 

3.  The  third  development  in  the  field  of  Franciscan  research  is 
due  to  an  Italian  Franciscan,  Nicolo  Papini,  in  his  two  works, 
characterized  by  a  sharply  critical  spirit,  Notizie  sicure  sopra  s. 
Francesco  (Florence,  1822,  and  Foligno,  1824),  together  with  Storia 
de  S.  Francesco,  opera  critica  (2  volumes,  Foligno,  1825).  Since 
1806  the  world  was  in  possession  not  only  of  Thomas  of  Celano's 
first  biography,  but  also  of  his  Vita  secunda,  and  Papini  now  built 
up  his  book  with  these  two  works  as  foundation.  And  that  he  did 
not  use  biographies  later  than  the  time  of  Celano  —  even  the  Fio- 
retti  is  among  those  omitted  —  is  only  what  was  to  be  expected; 
those  who  originate  a  new  principle  are  always  inclined  to  carry 
it  too  far.  Papini's  error  in  this  respect  is  richly  made  up  for  by 
Ozanam  (Les  poetes  franciscains  d'ltalie,  Paris,  1852),  by  Chaving 
de  Malan  (Vie  de  S.  Franqois  d' Assise,  Paris,  1841),  by  Leon  Le 
Monnier  (Histoire  de  S.  Franqois  & Assise,  Paris,  1889). 

4.  The  most  recent  studies  on  Franciscan  research  came  under 
the  names  of  Karl  Muller  (Die  Anfange  des  Minoritenordens  under 
Bussbruderschaften,  Freiburg,  1885),  Henry  Thode  (Der  hi.  Frans 
von  Assist  und  die  Anfange  der  Kunst  der  Renaissance  in  Italien, 
Berlin,  1885,  new  edition,  1904),  and  Paul  Sabatier  (Vie  de  S. 
Franqois  d' Assise,  Paris,  1894,  32d  edition,  1904).  Sabatier  must 
again  and  again  be  extolled  as  the  one  to  whom  the  renaissance 
of  interest  in  St.  Francis  and  his  Order  is  essentially  due.  All 
that  has  been  written  since  his  work  appeared  —  by  Lempp,  van 
Ortroy,  Lemmens,  Mandonnet,  Minocchi,  Gotz,  Tilemann,  Boeh- 


MODERN      WORKS  403 

mer,  Felder,  Gustav  Schnurer  —  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  continuation 
of  Sabatier  or  as  refutation  of  him.  Even  the  author  of  the  present 
book  stands  in  such  a  relation  to  Paul  Sabatier,  and  recognizes 
it  here  with  deference  and  thankfulness. 


Conditions  which  I  could  not  control  prevented  me  from 
writing  this  book  at  one  time.  A  space  of  a  year  intervened  be- 
tween the  writing  of  the  first  portion  (the  first  two  books  and  the 
appendix)  and  the  remainder.  As  the  work  was  only  printed  long 
after  much  of  the  text  was  written,  it  was  inevitable  in  these  days, 
so  rich  in  Franciscan  literature,  that  more  than  one  new  work 
should  have  been  published.  The  attentive  reader  will  have  felt 
this  trouble  in  reading  the  appendix.  In  order  in  some  degree  to 
compensate  for  this  imperfection,  a  summary  is  here  given  of  the 
last  contributions  to  this  line  of  research. 

First  and  foremost,  Boehmer's  "Analekten  zur  Geschichte  des 
Franciscus  von  Assisi"  is  to  be  named.  In  the  text  of  my  book 
it  is  often  used  and  cited.  It  contains  not  only  (like  the  Quaracchi 
edition)  the  unquestioned  real  Latin  writings  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  • 
but  also  the  uncertain  ones,  the  fragments  as  well  as  the  Sun  Song. 
There  is  also  given  the  most  important  of  the  testimony  concern- 
ing the  Rules  of  the  Order,  the  stigmatization,  and  the  parts  of 
the  work  of  Jacques  de  Vitry,  so  important  in  the  history  of  the 
Order.  Finally,  it  gives  a  review  of  the  literature  about  St.  Francis, 
with  an  exact  and  comprehensive  index  to  the  history  of  St. 
Francis  and  of  his  Order  from  1182  to  1340. 

The  latter  is  open  to  few  criticisms.  It  is  undoubtedly  incorrect 
to  state,  as  on  page  128,  that  the  Regula  prima  in  its  existing  form 
was  submitted  to  the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  May  30,  1221.  Jor- 
danus  of  Giano  says,  clearly  enough,  that  this  Rule  came  into 
existence  after  this  Chapter.  Boehmer  in  his  Introduction,  p. 
xxxix,  written  apparently  at  a  later  period,  seems  clear  on  this 
point.  Could  he  have  been  unable  to  correct  it  in  the  index?  — 
Again  he  is  certainly  wrong,  when  he  places  St.  Francis'  last  stay 
in  San  Damiano  {Spec,  per/.,  c.  100)  in  October,  1224.  Francis 
left  La  Verna  only  on  September  30  of  the  same  year.  He 
then  travelled  in  slow  progress  to  Citta  di  Castello,  where  he 
remained  an  entire  month.  In  snowy  weather  he  thus  crossed 
the  Apennines,  at  the  earliest  about  the  first  of  November  — see 
page  305  of  this  book.  But  the  climate  of  Assisi  in  the  month 
of  November  is  such  that  one  could  not  sleep  in  a  wattle  hut, 


404  AUTHORITIES 

as  Francis  did  during  the  residence  in  question  at  San  Damiano. 
Therefore  it  must  be  assigned  to  the  next  summer  (1225),  and 
what  the  Speculum  tells  in  chapter  101  of  the  dispute  between  the 
Podesta  and  the  Bishop,  which  Francis  stopped  by  having  the  Sun 
Song  chanted,  undoubtedly  did  not  take  place  in  the  fall  of  1224, 
but  between  May  and  September,  1226.  Francis  then  lay  sick  in  the 
Bishop's  palace,  and  the  reconciliation  took  place  then  and  there. 
The  account  of  this  in  the  Speculum  naturally  falls  into  chapters 
122-123,  which  Boehmer  rightly  assigns  to  the  period  in  question, 
j  Next  referring  to  the  oldest  biographies,  thanks  to  the  Vicar- 
General  of  the  Order,  Rev.  Edouard  d'Alencon,  we  now  possess 
an  excellent  edition  of  all  the  works  of  Thomas  of  Celano,  the 
biographer  of  St.  Francis:  Vita  prima,  Vita  secunda,  Tractatus  de 
miraculis,  the  short  legend  for  liturgical  use,  together  with  the 
two  sequences  composed  by  Thomas  —  Sanctitatis  nova  signa  and 
Fregit  victor  virtualis.  In  the  Vita  secunda  d'Alencon  has  removed 
the  third  part  of  the  work  introduced  by  Amoni,  and  has  put  in 
the  original  third  portion  (Amoni's  pars  II  and  III  —  pars  II  in 
d'Alencon.  Where  I  in  this  work  have  used  d'Alencon's  edition, 
I  have  always  noted  it.  Moreover,  a  table  in  d'Alencon  makes  it 
easy  to  find  quotations  taken  from  Amoni).  The  large  and 
beautifully  printed  book  was  published  by  Desclee,  Lefebvre  et 
Cie.  in  Rome,  and  bears  the  title  S.  Francisci  Assisensis  Vita  et 
mir acuta,  additis  opusculis  liturgicis,  auctore  Fr.  Thoma  de  Celano 
(lxxxvii  +  481  pp.). 

The  work  of  the  Englishman,  Rosedale,  published  in  1904,  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  according  to  Brother  Thomas  of  Celano  (London, 
Dent  and  Co.,  xxxiv  +  174  pp.),  can  only  be  regarded  as  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  get  first  to  the  mill  with  one's  grain. 
Rosedale  made  good  use  of  d'Alencon's  guidance,  but  his  edition 
cannot  be  designated  by  a  milder  word  than  a  hasty  and  per- 
functory performance.  He  has  had  the  curious  idea  of  first  print- 
ing one  MS.  (from  Assisi)  and  then  the  other  (from  Marseilles), 
instead  of  comparing  the  two  manuscripts  of  the  Vita  secunda 
and  so  producing  a  critical  text.  As  the  two  relations  are  thus 
given  in  succession,  the  whole  produces  a  very  bewildering  effect. 
It  is  done  in  very  good  style,  but  is  full  of  printer's  errors  (on  the 
title  page  of  Vita  secunda,  for  instance,  we  read  "de  Assisii"). 
D'Alencon  has  pointed  out  a  quantity  of  wrong  readings  in  the 
Prolegomena  to  his  own  edition  (pp.  lxxii-lxxv). 

In  his  well-known  collection  so  often  cited  in  this  book,  Opus- 
cules de  Critique  (I,  pp.  69  et  seq.),  Paul  Sabatier,  following  the 


MODERN      WORKS  405 

Liegnitz  MS.  of  the  Legenda  antiqua,  calls  attention  to  seven 
chapters,  which  according  to  his  views  are  the  remains  of  the 
original  Three  Brothers'  Legend  (Legenda  vetus,  see  page  391  of  this 
book).  Meanwhile  van  Ortroy  has  found  the  same  chapters  in 
Angelo  Clareno's  Commentaries  on  the  Rules  of  the  Order  just  as 
they  are  found  in  a  manuscript  of  the  fourteenth  century  in 
S.  Isidoro  in  Rome  (Anal.  Boll.,  XXX,  pp.  441  et  seq.).  Clareno's 
commentary,  where  the  chapters,  according  to  van  Ortroy,  belong, 
is  to  appear  in  Sabatier's  Opuscules. 

Even  if  the  learned  Bollandist  is  right  in  his  contention,  the 
contents  of  the  chapters  in  question  may  very  well  have  their 
origin  in  the  old  Three  Brothers'  Legend.  Moreover,  the  con- 
viction is  formed  more  and  more  that  the  various  names  of  the 
original  Franciscan  writers  are  of  little  weight.  It  appears  clear 
that  there  are  really  only  three  original  sources  for  the  biography 
of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi: 

(1)  Francis'  writings. 

(2)  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  prima. 

(3)  All  that  directly  or  indirectly  can  be  referred  back  to  Brother 
Leo  and  his  friends.  From  Brother  Leo's  rotuli  and  the  other 
scripta  fratrum  antiquorum  originate  (a)  the  Greccio  collection  from 
1246  =  the  original  Three  Brothers'  Legend  (Legenda  vetus);  (b) 
Celano's  Vita  secunda,  with  portions  of  the  Treatise  on  Miracles 
(§32  =  Spec.  113;  §§37-38  =  Spec.  112);  (c)  Speculum  pet -fectionis, 
Actus  (Fioretti),  Legenda  antiqua,  and  the  other  collections  from 
the  fourteenth  century  down  to  the  Speculum  vitae  of  about 
1250. 

One  of  these  numerous  compilations,  perhaps  based  upon  Angelo 
Clareno's  work  referred  to  above,  is  also  the  Italian  Leggenda 
antica  given  by  Salvatore  Minocchi  under  the  impressive  title 
Nuova  fonte  biographica  (Florence,  1905,  xxxii  +  184  pp.). 
As  Golubvich  remarks  (Luce  e  amore,  II,  Florence,  1905,  pp.  255- 
264),  the  term  " Legenda  antiqua"  in  the  older  Franciscan  speech 
was  often  the  designation  of  one  or  another  legend  that  was  older 
than  Bonaventure's  biography  and  was  of  "Leonine"  origin. 
Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita  secunda  is  often  designated  by  this  name, 
which,  all  things  considered,  can  only  be  a  wrong  designation. 

The  order  of  the  Chapter-meeting  of  1263  (see  p.  380),  in 
compliance  with  which  all  the  legends  which  were  older  than 
Bonaventure's  were  to  be  destroyed,  was  only  known  through  a 
quotation  of  Rinaldi's  from  a  lost  manuscript  from  Gubbio.  The 
ominous  decree  has  now  been  again  found  by  A.  G.  Little  in  an 


406  AUTHORITIES 

Oxford  MS.  {English  Historical  Review,  XIII,  pp.  704-708),  and  by 
v.  Ortroy  {Anal.  Boll.,  XVIII,  p.  174)  in  a  Vatican  MS.  of  the 
thirteenth  century  which  had  belonged  to  Queen  Christina. 

Salimbene's  chronicle  was  published  by  Holder-Egger  in  Mon. 
Germ.;  the  first  part  appeared  in  Vol.  XXXII.  Felice  Tocco  is 
preparing  in  Sabatier's  Collection  d'etudes  an  edition  of  Angelo 
Clareno's  Chronica  septem  tribulationum,  and  in  Sabatier's  Opus- 
cules  there  is  to  appear  a  new  and  complete  edition  of  Jordanus  of 
Giano  by  H.  Boehmer.  In  Suttini's  Bolletino  critico  (Florence, 
1905,  pp.  45-47)  Little  has  published  a  hitherto  unknown  source 
for  the  Chronica  XXIV  generalium,  namely,  Brother  Pilgrim  of 
Bologna's  Chronicle  (see  p.  397). 

One  could  be  tempted  to  regard  Nino  Tamassia's  work,  S. 
Francisco  dJ  Assist  e  la  sua  leggenda  (Padua  and  Verona,  1906,  XI 
+  216  pp.),  as  a  contribution  characterized  by  great  learning. 
The  author  is  professor  of  the  History  of  Law  and  of  Church  Law 
in  the  University  of  Padua,  and  his  work  testifies  to  a  wide-spread 
knowledge  of  works  on  the  ancient  Church  and  Middle  Ages. 
He  here  works  on  the  principle  that  every  part  of  the  legend  of 
St.  Francis,  to  which  parallels  can  be  found  in  earlier  hagiography, 
necessarily  are  plagiarisms  therefrom.  For  Tamassia  the  whole 
Franciscus  legend  resolves  itself  into  a  mosaic  of  reminiscences 
and  quotations.  When  Thomas  of  Celano  begins  his  relation 
with  the  simple  words  Vir  erat  in  civitate  Assisii,  the  learned  pro- 
fessor sees  at  once  a  quotation  from  Gregory  the  Great's  biog- 
raphy by  Benedict  of  Nurcia,  which  very  naturally  begins  with 
the  words  Fuit  vir!  "It  is  a  pure  illusion,"  Tamassia  therefore 
declares,  "when  modern  Franciscan  researchers  try  to  find  any 
remains  of  historical  truth  in  Celano's  writings."  Both  this 
author's  Vita  prima  and  Vita  secunda  are  works  with  a  purpose, 
arranged  by  Brother  Thomas  by  Gregory's  orders  to  change  the 
heretic  and  Valdensian  Francis  to  a  saint  after  the  best  orthodox 
patterns.  Add  to  this  that  Tamassia  as  well  as  v.  Ortroy  regard  the 
Legenda  trium  sociorum  as  an  unreliable  and  late  work  of  compila- 
tion, and  there  is  certainly  nothing  more  for  them  to  say.  Not  un- 
justly has  a  critic  of  Tamassia's  book  (in  Etudes  franc,  XV,  pp.  481 
et  seq.)  put  the  ironic  question:  S.  Francois  a-t-il  jamais  existe? 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  this  flight  into  the  extremes  of  hyper- 
criticism  to  the  observations  on  the  questions  of  the  authorities 
for  the  life  of  St.  Francis  which  Henry  Thode  has  brought  together 
in  the  new  edition  of  u Franz  von  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  der 
Kunst  der  Renaissance  in  Italien"    (Berlin,    1904,  pp.  586-609). 


MODERN      WORKS  407 

Not  without  justifiable  pride  does  Thode  remark  that  it  was 
precisely  his  book,  published  originally  in  1885,  which  established 
a  basis  for  all  modern  Franciscan  literature;  a  work  in  whose 
tracks  C.  Mandachs  follows  closely  in  writing  on  St.  Anthony  of 
Padua.  He  adheres  strongly  to  the  thesis,  that  in  the  question 
of  the  sources  of  the  biography  of  St.  Francis  after  twenty  years' 
indefatigable  research  all  the  essentials  are  in  the  older  works 
(p.  609).  Now  as  always  the  principal  sources  are  Celano's  Vita 
prima  and  Vita  secunda,  in  which  last  Thode  sees  the  undoubt- 
edly real  Legenda  trium  sociorum,  that  of  Leo,  Angelo,  Rufino  and 
the  others,  including  Thomas,  a  composite  biography  of  Francis. 
"Alles  wissenswethe  bezuglich  des  Heiligen  und  der  Au fas  sung,  die 
seine  Junge  von  ihm  hatten,  ist  in  den  einzigen  wahren  Quellen,  den 
beiden  Viten  des  Thomas  zu  finden"  (p.  599). 
I  I  concede  that  Thode  here  goes  farther  in  opposition  to  Sabatier 
than  I  can  follow  him.  For  example,  it  is  not  clear  to  me  that 
the  natural  and  naive  style  of  the  relations  in  the  Speculum  is  to 
be  taken  as  a  proof  of  their  late  origin  (pp.  600-601).  Even 
Sabatier  does  not  claim  that  the  Speculum  was  written  in  1227. 
But  I  do  not  see  that  Thode  has  proved  it  impossible  that  Leo's 
rotuli  in  their  original  simple  style  even  in  13 18  lay  before  this 
man  or  those  men  who  collected  and  published  the  Speculum 
perfectionis,  and  were  piously  preserved  in  their  original  form. 
Neither  has  Thode  proved  that  the  Legenda  vetus,  which  was 
read  at  the  table  in  Avignon  under  Michael  of  Cesena  (p.  391)  is 
identical  with  the  Speculum  perfectionis,  although  on  his  page 
604  et  seq.  he  upholds  this  view.  The  untenability  of  his 
hypothesis  becomes  at  once  clear  when  we  examine  it  in  the  light 
of  the  explicit  utterance  in  the  prologue  to  the  Legenda  antiqua  on 
the  subject  of  the  "old  legend"  —  that  it,  namely,  (1)  was  used 
by  Bonaventure  and  (2)  is  inserted  in  Leg.  antiqua.  None  of  this 
applies  to  the  Speculum  perfectionis.  Bonaventure  has  not  inserted 
it,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  was  not  in  existence  in  his  time. 
And  the  Legenda  antiqua  certainly  quotes  the  Speculum,  but  from  a 
source  widely  different  from  the  Xegenda  vetus.  The  two  cannot 
be  identified,  and  it  seems  for  the  present  most  reasonable  —  as 
on  my  page  392  —  that  the  "old  legend"  read  in  Avignon  is  to  be 
understood  as  having  been  the  original  Legenda  trium  sociorum. 

In  his  commendable  zeal  to  establish  Thomas  of  Celano's  throne 
in  safety  against  the  attacks  of  Sabatier,  Thode  goes  too  far  to  the 
other  side.  The  Speculum  will  always  hold  its  place  in  the  first 
rank  among  the  biographies  of  St.  Francis.     It  is  therefore  a  pity 


408  AUTHORITIES 

that  Thode  —  like  Lemmens  —  in  the  traditional  (incomplete) 
Three  Brothers'  Legend  can  only  see  a  pure  compilation  —  arranged 
to  form  an  introduction  to  the  Speculum  perfectionis.  So  far 
no  one  —  not  even  v.  Ortroy  —  has  shown  the  sources  of  charac- 
teristic minor  traits  from  the  childhood  of  Francis  given  in  this 
work  and  nowhere  else.  And  until  this  proof  is  produced  all 
credit  remains  here,  as  Thode  says,  "with  the  old"  sources. 

Finally,  a  few  words  must  be  said  of  Karl  Hampe's  article  in 
"Hist.  Zeitschr.,"  1906,  "Die  wundmale  des  hi.  Franz  von  Assist." 
I  cannot  go  into  all  this  writer's  subtilties  —  such  as,  that  the 
seraph  who  appeared  to  Francis  at  La  Verna  cannot  have  floated 
in  the  air,  because  one  authority  states  that  the  angel  showed  him- 
self standing  on  a  stone  (p.  399).  When  an  angel  does  reveal 
himself,  he  may  well  overcome  first  one  and  then  another  thing; 
but  to  Hampe  it  appears  that  his  view  is  finely  adapted  to  show 
the  contradictions  existing  in  the  sources  of  information. 

There  are  not  many  such  solid  arguments  in  Hampe's  article, 
but  it  is  written  in  the  suspicious  style  affected  in  certain  modern 
circles.  Nothing  is  insisted  on  and  nothing  is  denied,  but  by  a 
series  of  indirect  suggestions,  general  suspicions  and  indefinite 
circumlocutions,  the  reader  is  brought  into  the  narcosis  of  doubt 
and  uncertainty  aimed  at  by  the  author.  When  two  testimonies 
of  the  stigmatization,  for  example,  two  mutually  independent 
documents  say  exactly  the  same,  then  he  assumes  that  one  of 
them  has  been  adapted  to  fit  the  other's  appearance  (p.  398). 
This  is  an  easy  way  to  get  rid  of  an  inconvenient  witness. 

It  is  significant  that  Hampe  —  in  spite  of  all  this  —  does  not 
at  all  deny  Francis'  stigmatization.  The  stigmata  existed  in 
Francis'  last  year,  that  is  certain  (p.  390).  Hampe  only  denies 
(1)  that  they  had  the  appearance  given  in  this  book;  for  example, 
according  to  him  they  can  only  have  been  "vernarbte  Locher, 
in  deren  Risse  sich  der  Schmutz  gesetzt  hat,  i.e.,  inflamed  openings, 
in  whose  cracks  dirt  had  accumulated  (p.  391);  (2)  that  Francis 
received  the  stigmata  on  La  Verna  in  September,  1224. 

As  principal  proof  for  these  denials  Hampe  cites  the  letter  of 
Elias  of  Cortona  to  Gregory  and  the  French  Brothers  written 
immediately  after  Francis'  death.  (Appendix  to  this  book,  p. 
351,  note  4.)     It  reads  thus  (see  Boehmer,  p.  91): 

"Non  diu  ante  mortem  f rater  et  pater  noster  apparuit  crucifixus, 
quinque  plagas,  quae  vera  sunt  stigmata  Christi,  portans  in  cor- 
pore  suo:  nam  manus  ejus  et  pedes  quasi  puncturas  clavorum 
habuerant   ex  utraque  parte   confixas,   reservantes   cicatrices  et 


MODERN   WORKS 


409 


clavorum  nigredinem  ostendentes.  Latus  vero  ejus  lanceatum 
apparuit  et  saepe  sanguinem  evaporavit."  Hence  Hampe  believes 
that  (1)  Francis  received  the  stigmata  shortly  before  his  death 
(non  diu),  not  two  years  before;  (2)  the  stigmata  did  not  project 
like  nails,  but  were  only  black  (clavorum  nigredinem  ostendentes). 
The  answer  to  this  is: 

(1)  Hampe  places  too  much  stress  on  the  expression  non  diu 
written  by  Elias  without  regard  to  later  critical  historians.  Elias 
had  been  in  the  Order  sixteen  years  when  he  wrote  this,  and 
had  a  certain  right  to  use  the  expression  "not  long"  for  a  lapse 
of  two  years.  But  what  would  Hampe  say  to  it,  when  Thomas 
of  Celano  describes  a  lapse  of  seventeen  years  by  the  words  paulo 
post?  This  is  the  case  in  the  Vita  secunda  I,  VI,  n,  where  it  is 
said  of  Francis'  prayer  in  San  Damiano:  "Ab  ea  igitur  horalique- 
facta  est  anima  ejus,  ut  dilectus  ei  locutus  est.  Patuit  paulo  post 
amor  cordis  per  vulnera  corporis."  l  And  in  her  Rule  St.  Clara 
writes:  " paulo  post  conversionem  ipsius"  (i.e.  Francisci)  "una 
cum  sororibus  meis  obedientiam  voluntarie  sibi  promisi"  (Textus 
originates,  p.  62).  When  the  expression  paulo  post  in  Clara's 
diction  can  indicate  five  years,  in  that  of  Thomas  of  Celano 
seventeen  years,  then  Elias  can  also  by  non  diu  have  indicated 
two  years.  As  far  as  the  reckoning  of  time  went,  none  of  these  old 
writers  apparently  weighed  their  expressions  on  a  bullion-balance. 

Finally,  with  regard  to  (2)  the  following  is  to  be  said.  Hampe 
lays  much  stress  on  the  fact  that  Elias  speaks  of  the  stigmata 
only  as  "clavorum  nigredinem  ostendentes,"  whereas  Celano  says 
in  Vita  prima  (II,  c.  3;  Boehmer,  p.  93),  "manus  et  pedes  ejus  in 
ipso  medio  clavis  confixi  videbantur. "  This  seems  to  him  a  develop- 
ing of  the  legend. 

My  view  is  that  the  expression  "clavorum  nigredinem"  is  only 
to  be  taken  as  a  flower  of  rhetoric.  In  those  days,  if  a  fine  expres- 
sion was  sought  for,  one  would  not  say,  for  example,  "per  densas 
silvas,"  but  "per  densitatem  sil varum,"  analogous  to  the  ways  of 
certain  French  symbolists  in  our  own  times.  In  like  manner 
one  would  not  say  "clavos  nigros,"  but  more  elegantly  "clavorum 
nigredinem. "  Hinc  ilia  dissertatio.2 

1 1  am  indebted  to  Rev.  Michael  Bihl  for  this  valuable  indication. 

2 1  must  state  here,  that  Monsignor  Dr.  N.  Paulus,  who  formerly  ("Der 
Katholik,"  1899,  I,  pp.  97  et  seq.)  has  defended  the  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
Portiuncula  Indulgence  from  St.  Francis  himself,  in  an  article  in  the  "Kol- 
nische  Zeitung"  for  July  26,  1906,  essentially  places  himself  upon  the  same 
standpoint  as  P.  A.  Kirsch.  ("That  Honorius  III  did  not  grant  the  Portiuncula 
Indulgence,  Kirsch  has  convincingly  shown".) 


4IO  AUTHORITIES 

The  Wolf  of  Gubbio 

The  legend  of  the  Wolf  of  Gubbio  in  the  Fioretti  is  as  follows : 
A  savage  wolf  terrorized  the  inhabitants  of  Gubbio.  It  kept 
itself  in  the  environs,  and  no  one  dared  to  go  out  there  alone,  no 
matter  if  he  was  armed.  St.  Francis  went  out  to  see  the  wolf 
and  to  tame  it  by  his  influence.  He  found  it  in  its  haunts, 
addressed  it  as  Brother  Wolf,  told  it  how  bad  had  been  its  life, 
told  it  that  if  it  would  cease  its  attacks  it  would  be  supported, 
and  thus  subdued  it.  For  two  years  thereafter,  we  are  told,  the 
wolf  went  through  the  town  of  Gubbio  from  house  to  house  and 
was  fed  by  the  inhabitants,  and  then  died.  —  Translator's 
Note. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abruzzi,  the,  265. 

Abstainers,  the  Third  Order,  241. 

Abu  Jacob,  the  Miramolin,  199. 

Accursius,  celebrated  Lawyer  of  Bo- 
logna, bequeaths  his  villa  La  Rich- 
ardina  to  the  Order,  228;  sent  to 
Morocco,  1 2 19,  197. 

Adam  of  Marsh,  B.,  opposed  to  Elias 
of  Cortona,  239. 

AdJuto,  B.,  sent  to  Morocco,  12 19, 
197. 

Admonitions,  summary  of,  214-217. 

iEGiDius,  B.     See  Giles,  B. 

Agnello  of  Pisa,  B.,  Custos  in  Paris, 
239;  leader  of  English  mission  of 
1224,  239. 

Agnolo,  B.,  158. 

Albernio,  hermitage  of,  near  Siena,  319. 

Albert,  the  beggar,  52;  *  meets  St. 
Francis  in  Pisa,  146. 

Albigenses,  87. 

Alviano,  the  swallows  of,  151. 

Alexander  III  and  the  care  of  lepers, 
33;  gives  Valdes  permission  to 
preach,  88. 

Angel  plays  for  St.  Francis,  295,  317. 

"Angel's  Bread,"  274. 

Angela  of  Foligno,  73. 

Angelo,  brother  of  St.  Francis  per- 
secutes him,  52. 

Angelo  Clareno,  B.,  his  strict  obser- 
vance, n.,  272. 

Angelo  Tancredi,  B.,  characterized 
by  St.  Francis,  282;  humiliated, 
158;  living  with  Cardinal  Branca- 
leone,  259;  and  Leo  with  the  dying 
saint,  324;  St.  Francis'  calls  to 
him,  76;  test  of  his  humility  and 
obedience,  158. 

Angelus  meets  St.  Francis  in  Pisa, 
146. 

Antonin  of  Florence,  St.,  27. 

Apulia,  St.  Francis'  futile  trip  to, 
22-24. 

Ascoli,  St.  Francis  preaches  in,  153. 

Assisi,  its  history,  8-9,  10,  18,  19,  22, 
86-87,  99,  129;  peace  with  Perugia, 
November,  1203,  20;  blessed  by  St. 
Francis   when  dying,   329;    doors 


in,  closed  to  Brothers,  81;  Ptolemy's 
Aisision,  8;  stable  in,  birthplace  of 
St.  Francis,  10. 
Aymon  of  Faversham,  B.,  228;  at  Bo- 
logna, 228;  favors  the  book-learned 
as  officers  of  the  Order,  239. 

Barbarossa,  18. 

Barbarus,  B.,  76. 

Barbarus,  in  Cyprus,  202. 

Barnabas,  on  German  missions  of  1220 
or  1221,  210. 

Bartholi,  Francesco,  and  the  Porti- 
uncula  indulgence,  170. 

Bartholomew  of  Pisa,  analogies  be- 
tween Our  Lord  and  St.  Francis,  9. 

Benedict  of  Arezzo,  B.,  goes  as  a 
missionary  to  Greece,  1219,  196;  the 
Portiuncula  indulgence,  169. 

Benedict  of  Prato,  B.,  says  mass  for 
St.  Francis,  288;  writes  St. 
Francis'  blessing  on  the  Order,  321. 

Benedictines  on  Monte  Subasio,  own- 
ers of  Portiuncula,  105. 

Benedictine  Sisters  of  St.  Pauls  and 
St.  Clara,  127. 

Berardo,  B.,  leader  of  the  mission- 
aries in  Seville,  199;  sent  to  Morocco, 
1219,  197. 

Bernard  of  Bessa,  B.,  n.,  62;  testifies 
to  Hugolin's  friendship  for  St. 
Francis  in  difficulties  of  1221,  207; 
uses  title  of  Third  Order,  and  de- 
scribes it,  244. 

Bernard  of  Quintavalle,  B.,  his 
abstraction  in  God,  106-107;  char- 
acterized by  St.  Francis,  282;  in 
Florence,  70;  gives  all  to  the  poor 
and  is  converted,  April  16,  1209, 
62,  65;  prays  for  divine  guidance  in 
the  church  of  St.  Nicolo,  Assisi,  64; 
sometimes  acts  as  leader  on  trip  to 
Rome,  1 2 10,  84;  preaches  in 
Bologna,  1212,  227;  settled  at 
Bologna,  12 13,  227;  tests  St. 
Francis'  sincerity,  63;  St.  Francis' 
special  commendation  of,  330;  his 
last  days,  280. 

Bernard  of  Vigilanzio,  76. 


4i3 


414 


INDEX 


Bernhard  Primus,  91. 

Birds,  sermon  to  the,  149-150;  wel- 
come the  Friars  to  Mount  Alverna, 
292. 

Boehmer  describes  his  letters,  267. 

Boehmer  and  Muller  and  the  Rule 
of  1221,  221-222. 

Bologna  and  Bernard  of  Quinta- 
valle,  227;  centre  of  opposition 
to  St.  Francis,  227;  and  the  learned 
Franciscans,  227-228;  St.  Francis 
preaches  in,  234-235. 

Bona  Donna,  wife  of  Luchesio,  241. 

Bonizio,  B.,  at  Fonte  Colombo  with 
St.  Francis  and  Brother  Leo  to 
finish  the  Rule,  252. 

Brienne,  John  of,  151;  Walter  of, 

151. 
"Brother  Ass,"  148. 
"Brother  Francis'  Plant,"   122. 
"Brother  Giles'  Wisdom,"  109. 
"  Brother  Jacob  a,"  152. 
Brothers  not  to  take  more  than  three 

mouthfuls  when  at  strange  tables, 

272. 

Cesarius  of  Speier,  B.,  a  collaborator 
in  the  writing  of  St.  Francis'  cir- 
cular letters,  271;  first  German  in 
the  Order,  201;  leader  of  German 
mission  of  1220  or  1221,  210;  helps 
St.  Francis  in  writing  the  Rule  of 
1221,  213,  221;  returns  from  Ger- 
many, June  11,  1223,  271;  and  St. 
Francis'  Work,  223-225. 

Camaldolites  of  Monte  Subasio,  give 
San  Domiano  to  the  Clares,  129. 

Camaldolites  and  Portiuncula,  105. 

Canterbury,  the  Friars  in,  239. 

Carceri,  the  original  convent  at,  218. 

Cathari,  87-88,  153-154. 

Cattani,  Orlando  dei,  161-162. 

Cattani,  Pietro  dei,  B.,  prays  for 
divine  guidance  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Niccolo,  Assisi,  63,  64. 

Chapter  of  Mats  (1220  or  1221),  209, 
210;  of  Michaelmas,  1219,  205; 
Pentecost,  of  May  14,  1217,  182; 
Pentecost,  of  12 18,  194-196;  Pen- 
tecost, of  May  26,  1219,  196,  236; 
Pentecost,  of  1220  or  12 21  (of  Mats), 
209-210;  Pentecost,  of  1221,  200, 
201,  239;  Pentecost,  of  1221  at 
Portiuncula,  206;  Pentecost,  of  1224, 
267,  269,  270. 

Chapters  or  Chapter  Meetings,  176, 
178. 

Cheerfulness,  54,  220,  289. 


Chiaramonti,  Cardinal  Nicholas, 
164. 

Christian,  Archbishop  of  Mayence, 
18. 

Clares  follow  Rule  of  St.  Benedict 
after  12 19,  189;  Gregory  IX  tries 
to  modify  the  Rule  of  Poverty,  190; 
Poverty,  the  core  of  Observances 
of  St.  Damien,  189;  privilege  cf 
poverty  ratified  by  Innocent  III, 
1215,  185;  rigidity  of  rule  makes 
Cardinal  Hugolin  weep,  189; 
Severe  Cloister  of,  189. 

Constance  of  Sicily,  21. 

Convents,  the  first  Franciscan,  218. 

Coppoli,  Jacopo  and  the  Portiuncula 
indulgence,  170. 

Crecentius  of  Jesi,  B.,  at  Bologna, 
228. 

Cross  in  San  Damiano,  voice  of,  1207, 

2Q7- 

Crucigers,  77. 

Damietta,   siege   of,   beginning   May, 

1 2 18,  203-204;  fight  before,  on  July 
29,  1 2 19,  203;  attack  on  by  crusaders 
repulsed,  .July  31,  12 19,  203;  great 
defeat  of  crusaders,  August  29,  12 19, 
203;  falls,  November  5,  1220,  204. 

Dante  at  the  Franciscan  convent,  155. 

David  of  Dinant,  87. 

Despair,  temptation  of,  266. 

Disciple,  the  first,  62. 

Disciples,  first  four,  67;  first  seven,  67; 
persecution  of  early,  69-70;  taken 
for  thieves,  70. 

Dominicans  and  learning,  230;  Domin- 
icans'Rule  for  the  Franciscans,  231. 

Dom  Pedro,  Infanta  of  Portugal,  199; 
Infanta  of  Portugal  at  head  of  the 
Miramolin's  army,  199;  mission- 
aries put  in  his  care  by  the  Miramo- 
lin,  199. 

Donato,  story  of,  n.,  124. 

Durand  of  Huesca,  84;  adheres  to 
church,  88;  authorized  to  preach, 
83. 

Egidio,  B.     See  Giles,  B. 
Electus,  B.,  goes  as  a  missionary  to 
Tunis,  1 2 19,  196;  a  martyr  in  Tunis, 

1219,  197. 

Ellas  Bombarone,  B.  See  Ellas  of 
Cortona,  B. 

Ellas  of  Cortona,  B.,  n.,  27,  227; 
opposed  to  the  "Portiuncula  men," 
169;  placed  over  Province  of  Holy 
Land,  183;   St.  Francis  in  opposi- 


INDEX 


415 


tion,  226-227;  and  his  party  said 
to  have  attempted  to  invalidate  the 
Rule  and  substitute  the  Dominicans' 
Rule,  231;  and  the  Final  Rule,  248; 
visits  St.  Francis  at  Fonte  Colombo 
to  plead  for  a  gentler  Rule,  252-253; 
loses  the  Rule,  253;  begs  St. 
Francis  to  have  his  eyes  treated, 
316;  St.  Francis  transported  to 
Assisi  by  him,  321. 

England,  Franciscans  go  there,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1224,  239. 

Eremi  and  ritiri,  72. 

Erimitorium  of  the  Franciscans,  218. 

FAVORINO  DEI  SCIFI,   122,   1 24. 

Fiumi  family  of  Sterpeto,  122. 
Florence,  St.  Antonin  of,  27. 
Fonte  Colombo,  the  interview  at,  252- 

253;    the  original  convent  at,  218; 

St.  Francis  with  Brothers  Leo  and 

Bonizio  at,  252-253. 
Francis   of   Fabriano,   b.    1251,   d. 

1322,  171;    obtains  the  Portiuncula 

indulgence,  171;    his  reminiscences, 

171;  visits  Assisi  in  1268,  172. 
Frangipani  family,  152. 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  18. 
Frederick  II,  21;  and  San  Damiano, 

135-136- 
Friars  Minor,  origin  of  title,  100-101. 
Fru  Pica,  41,  44~45- 

George,  Houses  of  St.,  32. 

Germany,  mission  of  1220  or  of  1221 
to,  210-212. 

Giacoma.    See  Jacopa. 

Giorgio,  church  of  S.,  64. 

Giles,  B.,  n.,  67,  after  the  death  of  St. 
Francis,  238;  and  the  beggar 
woman,  66-67;  his  biography  writ- 
ten by  Brother  Leo,  107;  and 
book  learning,  236-237;  "Brother 
Giles'  Wisdom,"  109;  is  called  a 
hypocrite,  107-108;  carries  water 
and  helps  the  cook  in  Santi  Quattro 
Coronati,  108;  characterized  by  St. 
Francis,  282;  choice  of  life,  145; 
comments  on  St.  Francis'  preach- 
ing, 67;  his  conversion,  April  23, 
1209,  65-66;  his  devotion  to  Pov- 
erty and  Chastity,  237-238;  and 
the  Doctor  of  Theology,  138;  earns 
his  food  while  a  guest  with  Cardinal 
Nicholas,  109;  his  employment  in 
Ancona,  107;  episodes  in  life  of,  107- 
109;  an  extensive  traveller,  107; 
faithful  to  his  first  love,   239;    in 


Florence,  70;  gives  his  rich  cloak  to 
a  beggar  woman,  66-67;  g°es  as  a 
missionary  to  Tunis,  12 19,  196; 
imitates  playing  the  violin,  109,  238; 
instances  of  his  Franciscan  good- 
ness, 108-109;  interrogates  St. 
Bonaventure,  238;  " Knight  of  the 
Round  Table,"  67,  107;  life  in  the 
convent  at  Perugia,  109;  living 
with  Cardinal  Chiaramonti,  259; 
his  occupations,  108;  opposes  new 
tendency  to  learning  and  study, 
236-237;  "  Paris,  thou  ruinest  St. 
Francis'  Order,"  238;  prays  to  find 
St.  Francis,  66;  rejects  too  large  a 
payment  for  wood,  108;  his  remarks 
to  the  two  Cardinals,  109;  says  that 
a  priest  cannot  lie,  108;  sells  water 
in  Brindisi,  107;  sent  out  of  Tunis 
by  force,  12 19,  197;  stops  a  doctor 
of  theology  preaching  in  San  Da- 
miano, 138;  his  sonnet  to  chastity, 
n.,  no;  traits  illustrating  his  views 
of  doing  and  study,  237-238;  his 
death,  April  22,  1262,  239. 

Gozzoli,  Benezzo,  9-10. 

Gratian,  B.,  and  St.  Anthony  of 
Padua,  212. 

Greccio,  the  Christmas  at,  1223,  260- 
262. 

Gregory  of  Naples,  B.,  vicar  of  the 
Order,  205. 

Gregory  IX,  181  (see  also  Hugolin); 
grants  indulgence  to  church  of  St» 
Francis  in  Assisi,  166,  167,  168; 
protector  of  the  Third  Order,  243; 
and  Rule  of  the  Clares,  190;  and 
St.  Clara,  133;  and  St.  Clara's 
poverty,  136-137;  tries  to  modify 
the  Rule  of  Poverty  of  the  Poor 
Clares,  190;  withdraws  his  pro- 
hibition of  preaching  by  Franciscans 
in  San  Damiano,  133. 

Gubbio,  the  hospital  in,  50;  John  of, 
9;  St.  Francis'  friend  in,  49;  wolf 
of,  100,  235,  410. 

Guelfucci,  Bona,  125. 

Guido,  Bishop  of  Assisi,  1204,  n., 
31, 45,  76;  probably  confessor  of  St. 
Francis,  31;  his  law  suits,  78;  ob- 
jects to  the  begging,  77;  poverty  of 
St.  Francis,  76-78;  receives  the 
Brothers  in  Rome,  12 10,  84;  and 
St.  Francis**  early  preaching,  98. 

Guido  of  Florence,  his  alms  refused, 

7I- 
Guido    Vagnotelli,    B.,  enters   the 

Order,  145. 


4i6 


INDEX 


Henry  VI,  i8,  ax. 

Honorius  II  and  the  Portiuncula 
Indulgence,  167. 

Honorius  III,  authorizes  mass  for 
the  Friars  Minor,  December,  1224, 
288;  Bull  of  1220,  207;  defines  the 
Dominicans,  187;  goes  to  Rieti, 
1225,  316;  leaves  Rome,  April,  1225, 
316;  letter  of  commendation  for  the 
missionaries  (June  n,  1219),  196; 
his  letter  about  Poor  Clares  to  Car- 
dinal Hugolin,  August  27,  1 2 18, 
185-186;  on  December  16,  1221, 
orders  the  Bishop  of  Rimini  to  pro- 
tect the  Third  Order  in  Faenza,  243; 
protector  of  the  Third  Order,  243; 
ratifies  Rule,  November  29,  1223, 
226. 

Hubert  of  Casale  and  Angela  of 

FOLIGNO,  171. 

Hugolin,  Cardinal,  165,  180,  181- 
182;  assists  St.  Francis  in  drawing 
up  Rule  of  Third  Order,  244;  in 
Bologna,  1221,  243;  became  Pope 
Gregory  IX  in  1227,  136,  181; 
Bishop  of  Ostia  and  Velletri,  May, 
1206,  181;  chooses  Rule  of  the 
Benedictines  for  the  Poor  Clares, 
187;  defends  the  cause  of  the 
church  against  Markwald,  1188,  181; 
co-operation  with  St.  Francis  on  the 
final  Rule,  247;  establishes  Order 
of  Poor  Clares,  1217-1219,  185-186; 
first  visit  of,  to  Friars  Minor  and 
how  they  impressed  him,  164-165; 
forbids  St.  Francis  going  to  France, 
1217,  184;  founds  a  convent  for  the 
Franciscans  in  Viterbo,  181;  founds 
a  convent,  San  Cosmiato,  for  the 
Poor  Clares  in  Rome,  181;  foimds 
convents  in  Lombardy  and  Tuscany, 
181-182;  founds  a  poor-house  with 
church  in  Anagni  and  gives  it  over 
to  Hospital  Brothers,  181;  says 
that  he  helped  to  write  the  Rule 
and  to  obtain  its  ratification,  257; 
instances  of  his  influence  and  cor- 
recting the  final  Rule,  247;  inter- 
mediator between  Elias  of  Cortona 
and  St.  Francis,  226;  Papal  Chap- 
lain of  St.  Eustachio,  1198,  181; 
Papal  Legate  in  Tuscany  to  preach 
a  crusade  and  allay  disputes  be- 
tween the  republics,  183;  at  Pen- 
tecost Chapter  of  12 18  as  protector 
of  Order,  194;  and  the  Rule  of  the 
Order  of  Clares,  186-187;  and  St. 
Francis  and  the  final  Rule,  247-248; 


St.  Francis'  Spiritual  Father,  184; 
secured  for  side  of  St.  Francis' 
adversaries  (about  1223),  231;  his 
view  as  to  Rule  differed  from  St. 
Francis',  248;  washes  beggar's  feet, 
who  complains,  195;  weakens  the 
Rule,  247-248,  251;  weeps  at 
rigidity  of  Rule  of  Poor  Clares,  189; 
and  Humiliations  of  the  Friars,  158. 

Idiota,  228. 

Illuminato  in  the  Holy  Land  with 
St.  Francis,  12 19,  204. 

Indulgence  granted  Church  of  St. 
Francis  in  Assisi,  166,  167,  168; 
example  of  early  ones,  166-167;  and 
the  Lateran  Council  of  1215,  166; 
old  methods  of  granting,  166;  the 
Portiuncula,  166-174. 

Indulgentia  de  Terra  Sanda,  166. 

Innocent  III,  n,  31;  afraid  to  enter 
Assisi,  86-87;  blesses  St.  Francis' 
mission  to  the  Saracens,  152;  his 
dream,  n.,  85;  driven  from  Rome,  86; 
and  the  Clares,  130-131;  insulted, 
85-86;  journey  of  homage  through 
Umbria,  87;   rebellious  era  of,  87. 

Innocent  IV  in  Assisi,  1253,  139;  in 
Perugia,  1252,  138;  and  Poor  Clares, 
189;    visits  the  dying   St.   Clara, 

138-139- 
Irslingen,  Conrad  of,  18,  86. 

Jacopa  de  Settesoli,  b.  about  1190, 
152,  257-258;  in  Assisi,  334; 
epitaph  in  the  Franciscan  church 
in  Assisi,  334;  her  lamb  given  her 
by  St.  Francis,  257;  meets  St. 
Francis,  121 2,  152;  prepares  al- 
mond cream  for  him,  257;  her  first 
son  Giovanni,  born  1210,  152;  her 
second  son  Gratiano,  born  121 7, 152; 
visit  to  the  dying  saint,  330;  a 
widow  in  1217,  257. 

Jacqueline.     See  Jacopa. 

Jacques  de  Vitry,  his  description  of 
the  Friars  Minor,  163-164;  chapter 
meetings,  214;  in  St.  Jean  d'Acre, 
tells  of  Franciscans,  12 19,  203. 

John,  Morico  and  Sabbatino,  BB., 
early  disciples,  67. 

John  of  Parma,  192;  at  Bologna,  228. 

Johannes  Parenti,  B.,  228;  enters 
the  Order,  145. 

John  of  Piano  Carpino  on  German 
Mission  of  1220  or  1221,  210. 

John  of  San  Costanzo,  76. 

John   of   St.   Paul,   Cardinal,   be- 


INDEX 


417 


friends  the  Brothers  in  Rome,  12 10, 
84-85;  interviews  Pope  about  St. 
Francis,  90. 

John,  The  Simple,  B.,  his  conversion, 
115-117;  copies  St.  Francis  in  all 
things,  117. 

John  of  Brienne,  151. 

John  Capella,  B.  (of  the  hat),  67; 
tries  to  establish  a  new  order  of 
lepers,  12 19,  205. 

John  Colombini,  his  wife  converted, 
241. 

John  of  Giano,  B.,  and  the  German 
mission  of  1220  or  1221,  210. 

John  of  Gubbio,  9. 

John  de  Laudibus,  B.,  characterized 
by  St.  Francis,  282-283. 

John  Vellita,  Messer,  helps  St. 
Francis  with  the  Christmas  cele- 
bration at  Greccio,  1223,  261. 

Jordanus  of  Giano,  B.,  his  account 
of  the  German  mission  of  1220  or 
1 22 1,  211;  describes  his  own  charac- 
ter, 240;  describes  St.  Francis'  dis- 
like of  compulsion,  226;  does  not 
know  what  a  convent  is,  211,  218. 

Julian,  St.,  32. 

Juniper,  B.,  or  Ginepro,  106, 111-112; 
anecdotes  of,  106,  111-115;  charac- 
terized by  St.  Francis,  282;  cooks 
a  huge  meal  that  is  uneatable,  113- 
114;  his  "  flaming  sparks  of  words," 
115;  "news  from  God,"  115,  139; 
and  the  pig's  foot,  n  2-1 13;  and  St. 
Clara,  115;  and  the  Seesaw,  114- 
115;  gives  his  superior  hot  porridge 
at  night,  114;  his  way  of  giving 
lessons,  114. 

Ketteler,  Bishop  of  Mayence,  and 

the  poor  family,  277. 
Knights  of  Lazarus,  32. 
"Knight  of   the  Round    Table,"  67, 

107. 

Larks,  their  last  farewell  to  the  Saint, 

333- 

Lateran  Council  of  12 15  and  Indul- 
gences, 166;  its  Interdiction  of  New 
Orders,  187;  and  religious  orders,  83; 
said  to  have  accepted  Dominicans 
and  Friars  Minor,  187. 

La  Verna,  gift  of,  162,  168;  at  the 
present  day,  293. 

Lauds,  69,  222-225. 

Laymen,  as  preachers,  83. 

Lazarus,  Knights  of,  32. 

Lent,  1211,  147. 
28 


Leo,  B.,  106;  and  angels  with  the  dying 
saint,  324;  the  Blessing  of  Brother, 
303_3045  characterized  by  St. 
Francis,  282;  describes  St.  Francis 
failing  in  health,  251-252;  he 
intrudes  on  St.  Francis'  solitude, 
295-296;  opens  the  Book  of  Gospels 
for  St.  Francis'  guidance,  294;  the 
Portiuncula  indulgence,  170;  the 
prayer  with  St.  Francis,  117-119; 
St.  Francis  prays  with  him,  287;  St. 
Francis  attendant  in  his  last  weeks 
of  life,  293,  295;  with  St.  Francis 
and  Brother  Bonizio  at  Fonte 
Colombo  to  finish  the  Rule,  252; 
St.  Francis  describes  the  perfect 
happiness  to  him,  119-121;  with  St. 
Francis  on  La  Verna,  295-297; 
says  part-prayers  with  St.  Francis, 
1 1 7-1 19;  says  mass  for  St.  Francis, 
288;  and  the  Stigmata,  301-302; 
his  story  about  the  attempted  in- 
validation of  the  Rule,  231;  his 
vision  of  Francis  defending  his 
Order,  230;  his  eyes  possibly  closed 
by  Jacopa  de  Settesoli,  334;  died 
about  1274,  334. 

Leo  IX,  St.,  32. 

Leonard,  B.,  his  thoughts  read  by  St. 
Francis,  284. 

Leper  and  Martyrius,  32. 

Lepers  in  Middle  Ages,  32. 

Liberius,  Pope,  105. 

luchesio  of  poggibonsi,  241-242; 
his  new  life,  241;  his  wife  Bona 
Donna,  241;  and  wife  died  April  28, 
1260,  241. 

Lucidus,  B.,  characterized  by  St. 
Francis,  283. 

Lucius  III  and  Valdenses  in  1184,  88. 

Mariano  of  Florence,  his  character 

Of     PlETRO     Dl     BERNARDONE,      45; 

describes  the  preparing  of  the  Rule 
of  the  Third  Order,  247. 

Mark  Ancona,  Friars'  early  days  in,  68. 

Markwald,  31. 

Martyrs  of  Morocco,  200;  of  Seville, 
their  bodies  enshrined  in  Coimbra 
by  Queen  Urraca,  200;  news  of 
their  deaths  at  the  Pentecost  chap- 
ter of  1221,  200-201. 

Martyrius  and  the  leper,  32. 

Masseo,  B.,  of  Marignano,  74,  97, 
106;  anecdotes  of,  106,  no,  in; 
and  Brother  Rufino,  281;  charac- 
terized by  St.  Francis,  282;  his 
cheerfulness,  in;    exercised  in  hu- 


4i8 


INDEX 


mility  by  St.  Francis,  hi;  goes 
to  seek  advice  for  St.  Francis  from 
Silvester  and  St.  Clara,  149;  his 
praying,  in;  St.  Francis  makes 
him  find  the  road  they  are  to  take, 
no;  his  success  as  a  beggar^  no; 
testimony  as  to  Portiuncula  indul- 
gence, 169-170. 

Mats,  Chapter  of  the,  209. 

Matthew  of  Narni,  B.,  201,  205. 

Mayence,  Archb.  Christian  of,  18. 

Middle  Ages,  Church  of  the,  85-86. 

Minerva,  temple  of,  in  Assisi,  129. 

Mission  journey  of  121 7,  236;  to 
Tunis,  197-200;  to  Germany,  210. 

Missions,  great  Franciscan,  began  121 7, 
182-183,  192-193,  220. 

Missionaries,  their  experiences  in  Ger- 
many, 1 217,  192;  the  first,  68-70; 
ill-treated,  68-70;  in  Seville  irre- 
pressible, 199;  in  Seville  martyred, 
200;  six  go  to  Morocco,  12 19,  196; 
start  for  their  provinces,  121 7,  192. 

Monaldo,  uncle  of  St.  Clara  and  St. 
Agnes  attempts  to  recover  St. 
Agnes  by  force,  128-129. 

Monism,  the  struggle  for,  88-89. 

Montefalco,  10. 

Montefeltro,  Festival  at  castle  of,  159- 
162. 

Monte  Paolo,  hermitage  of,  212. 

Monte  Subasio,  48,  77-105. 

Monticelli,  St.  Agnes  and  the  Rule 
for,  190. 

Morico,  Sabatino  and  John,  BB., 
early  disciples,  67. 

Morocco,  St.  Francis'  journey  to,  163. 

Mount  Alverna,  the  original  convent 
at,  218;  taking  possession  of,  291. 

Mutual  love  of  the  Brothers,  82. 

Nature,  St.  Francis'  relations  to,  309- 

312. 
Neo-Manichees,  87. 
Nicholas,  Cardinal,  and  Giles,  109. 
Nicholas    IV,    Pope,    a    Franciscan, 

his  letter  of  May  14,  1284,  171. 
Nicholas  of  Pepoli,  professor  in  the 

University  of  Bologna,  228;  takes  up 

the  Franciscan  mission  in  Bologna, 

146. 
Niccolo,  Church  of  S.,  64. 
Ninety    brothers    volunteer    for    the 

German  mission,  210. 
Nottiano,  n.,  117. 
Novitiate   established    1220,    155;    of 

one     year     required     by    Bull     of 

Honorius  III,  207. 


Obedience,  perfect,  defined  by  St. 
Francis,  285-286;  to  the  Rule  first, 
248. 

Observances  of  St.  Damian,  189-190. 

Order  to  be  reorganized,  12 21,  207. 

Orlando  dei  Cattani,  161-162;  glad 
as  Friars  take  possession,  1224,  of 
La  Verna,  292;  verbal  gift  of  La 
Verna,  168. 

Ortis,  life  in,  96;   the  rest  at,  96-97. 

Ortlieb  of  Strassburgh,  87. 

Ortolana,  122,  124. 

Orvieto,  faction  in,  86. 

Ostia,  Cardinal  Hugolin  of,  165; 
also  see  Hugolin. 

Otto  of  Aquasparta  and  the  Porti- 
uncula indulgence,  170. 

Otto,  Brother,  sent  to  Morocco,  12 19, 
197. 

Otto  of  Brunswick,  Francis'  mes- 
sage to,  passing  through  valley  of 
Spoleto,  September,  1209,  82-83. 

Over-sanctification,  62. 

Oxford,  the  Friars  established  there, 
November,  1224,  239. 

Pacificus,  B.,  does  not  play  for  St. 
Francis  for  fear  of  making  a  dis- 
turbance, 317;  returns  to  French 
mission,  1219,  236;  goes  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  France,  1209,  196;  and 
the  Sun  Song,  313-314;  the  vision 
of,  279. 

Padua,  St.  Anthony  of,  212. 

Papal  commendation  of  May  29,  1220, 
236. 

Papal  sanction  refused  Dominicans 
and  Friars  Minor,  187. 

Parenti,  Johannes,  145-146,  228. 

Paris,  the  Order  in,  236. 

Paul  of  Pherme,  124. 

Paulinus  of  Nola,  152. 

Pepoli,  Nicolo  de,  146,  228. 

Penitential  Brothers,  the  Third  Order, 
their  life,  242. 

"Penitents  from  Assisi,"  81. 

Perugians,  danger  of  their  capturing 
St.  Francis  in  his  last  illness,  321. 

Peter,  B.,  sent  to  Morocco,  12 19,  197. 

Peter  John  Olivi,  b.  1248;  d.  1298, 
upholds  authenticity  of  the  Porti- 
uncula indulgence,  172. 

Peter  of  Stacia,  opposes  St.  Francis 
and  opens  a  House  of  Study  in 
Bologna.  226,  228,  230-231. 

Peter  Valdes,  permission  to  preach 
given  him  by  Alexander  III  in 
1179. 


INDEX 


419 


Philipp  Lungo,  76. 

Philip,  Brother,  superior  of  the 
Clares,  seeks  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion to  protect  them,  205. 

PlETRO    DEI    CATTANI,    227,    228,    276; 

sails    with    Crusaders,    12 19,    202; 
d.  March  10,  1221,  208. 
Pietro   di    Bernard-one,   40"4I»   435 
captures  and  imprisons  his  son,  44; 
tries  the  civil  law  against   his   son, 

45- 

Peregrine  of  Fallerone,  B.,  conver- 
sion of,  n.,  235. 

Poenitentium  Collegia,  242. 

Poggio  Bustone,  cave  near,  72. 

"Poor  of  Christ,"  106. 

"Poor  men  from  Lyons,"  87. 

Portiuncula,  33;  St.  Francis  weeps 
at,  42;  St.  Francis  begins  its 
restoration,  54;  called  Santa  Maria 
degli  Angeli,  St.  Mary  of  the  Angels, 
54;  St.  Matthew's  mass  in,  56; 
the  first  four  Friars  in,  67;  St. 
Francis'  sermon  to  the  first  six 
disciples  in  the  forest  near,  68-69; 
its  origin  and  name,  105;  owned  by 
Benedictines,  105,  576;  at  the 
present  time,  105;  and  the  Camel- 
dolites,  105;  abandoned,  1075,  io55 
ancient  picture  in,  105;  visions  at, 
168;  "God's  house  and  the  gate  of 
Heaven,"  331;  legend  of  Fru  Pica 
in,  105;  life  of  the  Friars  in,  105- 
106;  a  vision  of,  121;  new  brothers 
received  at,  about  12 14,  163; 
Brothers  invested  with  the  habit 
there,  175;  meetings  at,  on  specified 
dates,  175-176;  the  original  convent 
at,  218;  its  Rule,  219-220;  St. 
Francis  at,  1224,  306. 

Portiuncula  indulgence,  authenticity 
upheld  by  Peter  John  Olivi  in  a 
pamphlet,  172;  first  known  late  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  172;  Heri- 
bert  Holzapfel  and  the,  173-174; 
legends  of,  167-168;  not  mentioned 
in  the  Speculum  Perfectionis,  174; 
the  stricter  party  upholds  it,  170- 
171;  testimony  of  October  31,  1277, 
169,  170,  172;  theory  of,  172-173. 

Poverty,  evangelical,  91-92;  impaired 
by  Peter  Stacia,  231;  of  older 
Orders,  92;  St.  Clara's  privilege 
of,  190-191;  St.  Francis'  new  con- 
ception of,  92. 

Preaching,  early,  67-68;    by  laymen, 

83. 
Priest,  first,  in  the  Order,  65. 


"Prisons"  on  Monte  Subasio,  77. 
Provinces,  division  of,  1223,  n.,   227; 
or  mission-districts,  176,  182. 

Rainer,  Prior  of  St.  Michael,  203. 

Raynald,  Cardinal,  later  Pope  Alex- 
ander IV,  visits  San  Damiano,  138. 

Rayner  of  Arezzo  and  the  Porti- 
uncula indulgence,  169. 

Regula  Prima,  214,  220-225. 

Ren  an,  Ernest,  and  Franciscanism, 
121. 

Restoration  of  Roman  Senate,  1143, 
86. 

Ricerius,  Brother,  102-103. 

Ricetius  from  Muccia,  B.,  conversion 
of,  n.,  235. 

Rieti,  valley  of,  71-72,  265;  St. 
Francis'  journey  to,  316-317. 

Ritiri  and  eremi,  72,  218. 

Rivo  Torto,  life  of  early  disciples 
there,  77-81,  82,  97,  101. 

Robbers  on  Monte  Casale  converted, 

156-157- 

Robert  of  Arbrissel,  89. 

Roger  of  Todi,  B.,  characterized  by 
St.  Francis,  283. 

Rufino,  B.,  106,  158;  his  abstraction 
in  prayer,  in;  characterized  by  St. 
Francis,  282;  choice  of  life,  145; 
humiliation  of,  158;  his  origin,  in; 
and  Masseo,  281;  and  St.  Clara, 
125;  and  St.  Francis,  281-282; 
sanctified  while  living,  282;  tempta- 
tions, 280-282;  test  of  his  humility 
and  obedience,  158. 

Rufinus,  Saint,  9. 

Rule,  additions  to  the  fundamental, 
222;  the  first,  77-80,  213-214;  the 
final,  fears  excited  about,  252;  for 
Hermitages,  219;  Hugolin's  co- 
operation with  St.  Francis  in  final, 
247;  of  the  Clares,  189;  Clares', 
approved  by  Pope,  130-131;  to  be 
obeyed  litter aliter,  248;  for  Por- 
tiuncula, special,  219-220;  ratifica- 
rion  of  early,  94;  the,  reduced  in 
strictness,  251-252;  of  Rivo  Torto, 
220,  222;  of  San  Damiano,  185;  of 
Third  Order,  First,  lost,  244;  of 
1210,  219;  of  1221,  material  for,  221; 
final,  accepted  November  29,  1222, 
234;  much  abbreviated  as  accepted 
by  the  Pentecost  chapter  of  1223, 
125,  254-256;  ratified  by  Honorius 
III,  November  29,  1223,  226;  of 
1228,  for  Third  Order,  discovered 
by  Sabatier,  244-246. 


420 


INDEX 


Sabbatino,    67 

St.  Agnes,  123;  becomes  a  nun,  128; 
her  uncle  Monaldo  attempts  to 
remove  her  from  the  convent  by  vio- 
lence, 128-129;  her  visit  to  the  dying 
St.  Clara,  139;  and  the  Rule  of  the 
Order  of  Clares,  190. 
St.  Anthony  of  Padua  in  Forli,  about 
1222,  212,  234;  leaves  Bologna, 
1224,  to  go  to  Montpellier,  234; 
permission  given  him  to  teach  the- 
ology, 233-234.  # 
St.    Bridget   on    forgiveness   of    St. 

Francis'  sins,  n.,  75. 
St.   Clara,  her    family    and    family 
tree,  122,  125;    authorities   for  her 
biography,       122-123;        Favorini 
Scifi,   Count   of   Sasso   Rosso,   her 
father,    122;     Ortolana    Fiumi   of 
Sterpeto,  her  mother,  122;   her  four 
sisters  and  brother,  122-123;    origin 
of  name  of  Clara,  123;  Ortolana's 
pilgrimages,  123;    first  suitor  when 
fifteen   years   old,    124;     hears    St. 
Francis  preach  in  San  Rufino  and 
in  San  Giorgio,  Assisi,  in  Lent,  1212, 
124-125;    St.  Francis  becomes  her 
spiritual  guide,   125;    St.  Francis' 
advice   to   her,    125;     Rufino   and 
Silvester,    BB.,    assist    her,    125; 
leaves    the    world,    Palm    Sunday, 
March  18,  1212,  126;   Bona  Guel- 
fucci    accompanies    her   when    she 
visits   St.   Francis   and   when   she 
leaves  her  home,  125,  127;  the  flight 
from  home,  126;    reception  by  the 
Franciscans   in    Santa   Maria   degli 
Angeli  after  her  flight  from  home, 
126;   Bishop  Guroo  carries  an  olive 
branch  to  her  on  Palm  Sunday,  1212, 
126;   puts  on  the  habit,  127;    taken 
to  Benedictine  Sisters  of  St.  Pauls, 
Isola   Romanesca,    127-128;     trans- 
ferred to  convent  of  Sant'  Angelo 
in  Panso,  128;    the  Camaldolites  of 
Monte   Subasio   give  San  Damiano 
for    the    Clares,    129;     her    sister 
Beatrice    and    mother   Ortolana 
join   St.  Clara,    129;   a  forma  Vi- 
vendi written  for  the  Clares  by  St. 
Francis,    130;    Innocent   III   ap- 
proves the  Rule  of  the  Clares,  130; 
Abbess  of  San  Damiano,  12 15,  130; 
the  privilegium  paupertatis,  130-131; 
life  of  the  sisters  in  San  Damiano, 
130;    Gregory   IX   withdraws   his 
prohibition  of  preaching  by   Fran- 
ciscans in  San  Damiano,   133;    St. 


Clara  and  another  sister  get  answer 
in  prayer  for  guidance  of  St. 
Francis,  149;  Gregory  IX's  vain 
attempts  to  dissuade  her  from 
poverty,  136-137;  Innocent  IV, 
138-139;  Innocent  IV  ratifies  the 
privilege  of  poverty  two  days  before 
her  death,  190,  191;  her  final  Rule 
and  privilege  of  poverty,  140-141; 
Cardinal  Raynald  gives  her  the 
sacrament,  138;  Innocent  IV  visits 
her  when  dying,  139;  St.  Agnes, 
her  sister,  visits  her  when  dying,  139; 
Brothers  Leo,  Angelo,  and  Juni- 
per   visit    her    when    dying,    139; 


Juniper's     news  from  God/ 


:39i 


her  dying  ejaculations,  139;  washing 
the  Sisters'  feet,  131;  cares  for  sick 
in  San  Damiano,  131;  her  industry 
and  humility,  131,  132;  her  re- 
ligious life  and  devotion  to  prayer 
and  meditation,  131-132;  the  feast 
with  the  Franciscans  in  Santa 
Maria  degli  Angeli,  134-135;  pro- 
vides a  wattle  hut  for  St.  Francis, 
308;  St.  Francis  recites  the 
Miserere  in  San  Damiano,  133;  St. 
Francis  withdraws  from  visiting 
San  Damiano,  133;  St.  Francis 
says  farewell  to  her  and  her  Sisters, 
summer,  1225,  316;  death  message 
of  St.  Francis  to  her  and  the  Sisters, 
137;  her  last  sight  of  St.  Francis, 
137;  protects  San  Damiano  from 
Frederic  II's  soldiers,  135-136;  her 
garden,  140-141;  her  death  in  her 
sixtieth  year,  137;  the  Blessed 
Virgin  at  her  death-bed,  140;  soul 
taken  to  heaven,  140. 

St.  Cyril,  105. 

St.  Denis,  Friars  in,  236. 

St.  Dominic  first  meets  St.  Francis 
in  Rome  about  1217,  194;  and  the 
Lateran  Council  of  121 7,  187;  at 
the  Pentecost  Chapter  of  1218,  187; 
proposes  to  St.  Francis  to  join  the 
two  Orders,  winter  of  12 20-1 221, 
194;  his  second  meeting  with  St. 
Francis,  195. 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  Biography: 
Origin  and  family,  8-9;  Fru  Pica 
and  Portiuncula,  105;  birth  and 
baptism  (September  26?)  1182,  8- 
n;  stable  in  Assisi  his  birthplace, 
10;  baptized  John,  changed  to 
Francis  by  his  father,  n;  busi- 
ness, skill  in,  12;  extravagance,  15; 
French  and  Latin,  knowledge  of,  12, 


INDEX 


421 


30-31;   imprisonment  of  1 202-1 203, 
19-20;    his  illness,  1204,  3-7;    feels 
that  his  youth  is  gone,  6;   starts  for 
the  war,  23;    returns,  24;    the  last 
festival,     1205,     25-26;     vision    at 
Spoleto,   24;    again  visited  by  the 
Lord,  1205,  25;   a  distinguished  per- 
son his  friend  after  his  conversion, 
27;     gives    church    goods    to    poor 
priests,    29;    goes   to   Rome   about 
1205,  30;   throws  a  handful  of  coins 
into  the  Apostles  tomb  at  Rome,  30; 
begging  at  St.  Peter's  Rome,  30-31; 
lepers,  natural  abhorrence  of,  33-34; 
the  voice  from  the  Cross,  1207,  38; 
sells  horse  and  cloth  from  his  father's 
store  for  the  benefit  of  St.  Damiano, 
39;    starts  to  repair  St.  Damiano's 
chapel,  38-39;    the  cave  near  San 
Damiano,    40;     he    enters    Assisi, 
April,  1207,  followed  by  a  mob,  43; 
Bernardone's  rage  on  his  son's  re- 
turn from  the  cave  near  San  Da- 
miano,  44;     confinement   in   career 
by    father,    44;     Bernardone    at- 
tempts to  use  the  law  against  his 
son,  45;    refuses  to  appear  in  his 
father's  lawsuit,  45;   trial  before  the 
Bishop   of   Assisi,    45-47;     disowns 
his  father,  46;    forsakes  the  world, 
April,  1207,  47;    the  first  cowl,  47; 
robbers  on  Monte  Subasio,  48-49; 
Angelo,  his  brother,  persecutes  him, 
52;     Albert,    the    beggar,    as    his 
father,  52;    a  public  beggar,  51-52; 
begging  oil  for  the  sanctuary  camp, 
53;    St.  Matthew's  mass,  1209,  its 
message,    56-57;    opens   the   mass- 
book  in  S.  Nicolo,  Assisi,  as  a  guide 
to  action,  64;    Mark  Ancona  and 
Rieti,  trip  to,  1209,  67;   the  forgive- 
ness of  his  sins  in  the  cave  at  Poggio 
Bustone,     74;      probably     pacified 
troubles  in  Assisi,  12 10,  99;    starts 
for  Rome,  summer,  12 10,  84;  Rome 
decides  as  to  whether  his  order  is 
orthodox,,     1210,     88;      interviews 
with  Pope  Innocent  III,  12 10,  90- 
91;    Innocent  Ill's  dream,   12 10, 
92-93;    Innocent  III  accepts  him, 
1 2 10,  94;    return  from  Rome,  12 10, 
95~97>    passes  Lent  of  1211  on  an 
Island,     147;      missionary    journey 
of,     1211-1212,     145-146;     pacifies 
troubles  in  Perugia,  1211-1212,  145; 
third  journey  to  Rome,  1212,  151; 
Innocent   III   blesses   his   mission 
to  the  Saracens,  152;    unsuccessful 


start  for  the  Orient,  121 2, 153;  a  stow- 
away on  a  ship  to  Italy,  121 2,  153; 
stranded  in  a  ship  upon  the  coast  of 
Slavonia,  1212,  153;    spends  winter 
121 2-1 2 13  in  Sarteano  near  Chiusi, 
147;     visit    to    Rome,    1213,    151; 
founds  a  church,  12 13,  54;   at  Sasso 
Feltrio,  1213,  159;   journey  of  1213 
to  Romagna,   159;   travels  through 
Spain  to  go  to  Morocco  but  falls 
sick  about  1213-1214,  163;  he  helps 
renovate  Santa  Maria  del  Vescovado 
in  Assisi,   12 16,  54;    relations  with 
Cardinals,     12 16,     214;      apprehen- 
sions as  to  his  reception  at  the  Pen- 
tecost Chapter  of  1217,  182:  preaches 
extensive  missions  at  the  Pentecost 
Chapter  of  12 17,  182;    visits  Rome 
probably  in  winter  1 217-12 18,  193; 
interview     with     the     new    Pope, 
Honoeius  III,  probably  12 17-12 18, 
195;  preaches  to  the  Brothers  at  the 
Pentecost    Chapter    of    12 18,    195; 
preaches  to  the  Brothers  and  to  the 
Morocco  missionaries  at   the  Pen- 
tecost  meeting   of    12 19,    197-198; 
appoints  Matthew  of  Narni  his 
vicar    in    Portiuncula,    12 19,    201; 
starts  for  the  Holy  Land  with  Pietro 
dei  Cattani,  1 2 19,  201,  202;   lands 
at  St.  Jean  d'Arc,  July,  12 19,  202; 
meets  Saracen  Conrad,  12 19,  203- 
204;    bad  news  from  Italy  brought 
to  him  in  the  Holy  Land,  12 19,  205; 
returns  from  Holy  Land,  12 19,  with 
several  Brothers,  206;    seeks  Hugo- 
lin  on  return  from  Holy  Land,  12 19, 
206;  has  Egyptian  eye  sickness,  208; 
resigns  as  Head  of  the  Order,  St. 
Michael's  day,  1220,  208;    asks  for 
missionaries    for    Germany    at    the 
Chapter  of  Mats  (1220  or  1221),  210; 
German  mission  of   1220  or   1221, 
twelve    priests    and    thirteen    lay- 
brothers    go    on,    210;     sermon    in 
Bologna,  August  15,  1222,  234-235; 
fails  in  health  after  the  Pentecost 
Chapter  of  1223,  251-252;    his  last 
visit  to  Rome,  1223,  257;  goes  North 
from  Rome,  1223,  260;  the  crib  and 
sermon  at  Greccio,  Christmas,  1223, 
261-262;    Poggio   Bustone,   advent 
near,  1223  or  1224,  273;  letter  to  the 
Brethren  at  the  Pentecost  Chapter 
of  1224,  269-270;    meets  Orlando 
dei  Cattani,  1224,  292-293;    fast- 
ing in   1224,    291;    his  health   im- 
proves, 1224,  291;    the  final  retreat 


422 


INDEX 


before  death,  293;  cures  a  woman 
of  hysterics,  1224,  305;  returns  to 
Portiuncula  late  in  1224,  306;  the 
night  on  the  Appennines,  November, 
1224,  305;  trip  to  La  Verna,  1224, 
292;  begs  for  the  stigmata,  298-299; 
stigmatization,  September  14,  1224, 
298-300;  leaves  Mount  Alverna, 
September  30,  1224,  304;  his  eye- 
sickness  worse,  1225,  308;  leaves 
San  Damiano,  summer,  1225,  316; 
journey  to  Rieti,  1225,  316-317; 
physician's  efforts  to  cure  his  eyes, 
318;  dropsy  attacks  him,  321;  in 
Siena,  1225,  319;  at  Celle,  1225,  321; 
leaves  Rieti  for  hermitage  of  St. 
Eleutherio,  winter,  1225,  318;  his 
last  will,  316;  crowds  come  to  see 
him  at  San  Fabiano,  317;  hot 
cauterizing  irons  cause  no  pain,  318; 
appeases  dispute  between  the 
Podesta  and  Bishop  of  Assisi,  1226, 
322-323;  refuses  to  say  the  last 
farewell  to  the  Poor  Clares,  324; 
apologizes  for  trouble  he  occasions 
the  Brethren  in  his  last  hours,  328; 
his  last  view  of  Assisi  before  enter- 
ing the  gate  to  die  there,  329;  he 
blesses  Assisi  when  dying,  329;  he 
is  carried  to  Portiuncula,  329;  his 
last  blessing  of  the  Order,  331;  he 
wishes  to  die  in  utter  poverty, 
331;  his  death  October  3,  1226,  ^33', 
the  funeral  procession,  334. 

The  Friars:  Bernard  of  Quinta- 
valle  tests  his  sincerity,  63 ;  hides  his 
holiness  from  Bernard  of  Quinta- 
valle,  63;  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table,  67,  233;  calls  on  Angelo 
Tancredi  to  join  the  Order,  76; 
"et  sint  minores,"  origin  of  Friars 
Minor,  100;  the  hungry  Brother, 
he  eats  with  him,  103;  warns  Broth- 
ers against  excessive  mortifications, 
103;  his  kindness  to  Brothers,  103- 
104;  he  gathers  grapes  for  a  sick 
Brother,  104;  Brother  Masseo  beg- 
ging gets  more  than  St.  Francis, 
no;  exercises  Brother  Masseo  in 
humility,  in;  he  makes  Brother 
Masseo  find  what  city  they  are  to 
go  to,  no;  the  newer  generation  of 
Franciscans  staid  with  him,  no; 
"I  wish  we  had  a  whole  grove  of 
such  juniper  trees,"  in;  imitated 
by  Brother  John,  the  simple,  117; 
saying  part-prayers  with  Brother 
Leo,   1 1 7-1 19;    describes  the  per- 


fect happiness  to  Brother  Leo,  119- 
121;  meets  Angelus  and  Albert 
in  Pisa,  146;  goes  out  to  preach  with 
Brothers  Masseo  and  Angelo,  149; 
Brother  Masseo  sent  to  seek  advice 
as  to  hermit  life,  149;  seeks  advice 
as  to  hermit  life  from  Brother 
Silvester  and  St.  Clara,  149; 
Silvester  gets  answer  in  prayer 
for  guidance  of  St.  Francis,  149; 
Verse  King,  the,  154;  he  humiliates 
Rufino  and  Agnolo,  158;  promises 
paradise  to  Agnolo,  158;  forbids 
Brothers  to  seek  written  privileges 
from  the  Curia,  168;  said  to  have 
applied  for  Portiuncula  indulgence 
with  Brother  Masseo,  167;  wishes 
to  have  Brothers  with  him,  175; 
attachment  to  Elias  of  Cortona, 
183;  "My  Brothers  are  minores,  let 
them  not  become  majores,"  194; 
Elias  of  Cortona,  vicar  of  the 
Order,  208;  "The  Brother"  his  title, 
210;  wishes  Brothers  to  carry  copies 
of  his  admonitions  with  them,  221; 
his  and  Cesarius  of  Speier's  work, 
223-225;  opponents  led  by  Elias 
of  Cortona,  226-227;  Peter 
Stacia  and  his  house  of  study,  230- 
231;  permission  to  teach  theology 
given  to  St.  Anthony  of  Padua, 
233-234;  Elias  and  the  Final  Rule, 
248;  sinning  Brothers,  249-251; 
assisted  by  Cesarius  of  Speier  in 
writing  his  circular  letters,  271- 
letter  to  Brother  Leo,  271; 
Brother  Bernard  of  Quintavalle 
280;  sends  Brother  Masseo  to 
help  Brother  Rufino,  281-282; 
he  characterizes  different  Brothers, 
282-283;  blesses  the  Spanish  Friars, 
283;  reads  the  thoughts  of  Brother 
Leonard,  284;  makes  Brother 
Bernard  stamp  upon  his  mouth, 
285;  Brother  Elias  begs  him  to 
have  his  eyes  treated,  316;  has  his 
blessing  of  the  Order  written  down  by 
Brother  Benedict,  321;  asks  Broth- 
ers Angelo  and  Leo  to  be  with  him 
as  he  is  dying,  324;  "I  bless  them 
as  much  as  I  can,  and  more  than  I 
can,"  331;  asks  the  Brothers  to 
strew  ashes  over  him,  332;  Brothers 
sing  the  Sun-Song,  332. 

Association  Outside  the  Order: 
Hugolin,  Cardinal,  comes  to  his  aid, 
180;  sees  the  future  Pope  in  Cardi- 
nal   Hugolin,    181;     meets    Car- 


INDEX 


423 


dinal  Hugolin  in  Florence,  121 7, 
183;  Cardinal  Hugolin  his  spirit- 
ual father,  183-184;  casts  himself 
at  Hugolin's  feet  and  begs  him 
to  be  the  protector  of  the  Brother- 
hood, 184;  asks  Pope  to  appoint 
Cardinal  Hugolin  protector  of  the 
Order,  193-194;  part  he  took  with 
Hugolin  in  the  Rule  of  the  Third 
Order,  244-247;  begs  his  bread  when 
Cardinal  Hugolin's  guest,  259; 
John  of  Colonna,  his  advocate  at 
Rome,  92;  describes  his  plans  to 
Cardinal  John  of  St.  Paul,  90; 
St.  Dominic's  admiration  for  him, 
194;  St.  Dominic,  meetings  of, 
194-195;  meets  Jacopa  de  Sette- 
soli  in  Rome,  12 12,  152;  Almond 
cream  prepared  for  him  by  Brother 
Jacoba,  257;  visits  Brother  Jacoba, 
2S7J  gives  a  tame  lamb  to  Brother 
Jacoba,  258;  last  visit  of  Jacopa  de 
Settesoli,  330. 

Sermons,  Prayers  and  Writings:  an 
early  laud,  69;  his  prayer  of  the 
Cross,  69;  his  description  of  life  in 
the  early  days  of  the  Order,  78;  he 
writes  a  forma  vivendi  for  the  Clares, 
130;  begins  to  prepare  a  New  Rule 
about  1 22 1,  with  Cesarius  of 
Speier,  208;  his  way  of  writing  his 
Rule,  217-218;  on  pious  living  in  a 
hermitage,  218-219;  defends  his 
Rule,  231-232;  at  Fonte  Colombo 
to  finish  the  Rule  of  the  Order,  252; 
appeals  to  and  is  answered  by  the 
Lord  at  Fonte  Colombo  as  to  the 
Rule,  253 ;  works  on  new  writings  to 
supplement  the  Rule  as  approved, 
265;  his  letters  described  by  Boeh- 
mer,  267;  last  writings,  267,  269-272; 
the  dying  sinner  described,  268-269; 
letter  of  1223  to  Brother  Leo,  276- 
272;  ideal  general  of  the  Order,  274; 
composes  the  Sun  Song,  309-313; 
describes  the  Franciscan  convent, 
320;  sends  St.  Clara  his  last  bless- 
ing in  writing,  324;  his  Testament, 
325-328;  his  prayer  before  the  cru- 
cifix in  San  Damiano,  38;  his  early 
sermons,  67-68;  sermon  to  the  first 
six  disciples,  68-69;  preaches  in 
Cathedral  of  Assisi,  98;  would  not 
preach  in  San  Damiano,  133-134; 
preaching  to  the  birds,  149-150; 
preaching  at  Montefeltro,  159; 
preaches  in  Ascoli  and  wins  thirty 
recruits  for  the  Brotherhood,   153; 


his  quality  of  preaching,  154-155; 
preaching  and  admonitions  at  Chap- 
ter meetings,  176,  177-178;  preaches 
to  crusaders,  203;  before  the  Soldan, 
204;  preaches  at  the  Chapter  of 
Mats,  209-210;  his  admonitions, 
214-217;  effect  of  his  sermons  in 
Bologna,  234-235. 

Nature  and  Animals:  the  swallows 
in  Alviano,  151,  240;  his  feeling  for 
lambs,  257-258;  his  tame  lamb  at 
Portiuncula,  258;  birds  welcome  him 
to  Mount  Alverna,  292;  his  love  of 
nature,  309-3 13;  love  of  animals 
and  birds,  311;  the  sheep  near  Siena, 
312;  the  fish  of  Lake  Rieti,  312;  fire, 
312;  the  sun,  312;  the  wild  rabbit 
at  Greccio,  312;  the  pheasant,  312; 
the  hare  of  Lake  Thrasimene,  312; 
the  cicada,  312;  larks,  their  last 
farewell,  333. 

St.  Germain  des  Pres  and  the  Friars, 
236. 

St.  Gregory,  152. 

St.  Michael,  St.  Francis'  devotion 
to,  291. 

St.  Pauls,  Benedictine  sisters  of,  and 
St.  Clara,  127. 

St.  Peter,  St.  Francis  starts  to  repair 
it,  53. 

Salvator  Vitalis'  Paradisus  Sera- 
phicus,  105. 

Salzburg  Brothers  and  Cesarius  of 
Speier,  211-212. 

Sancia,  sister  of  King  Alfonso  gives 
Friars  Minor  a  chapel  in  Alenquer, 
Portugal,  198. 

San  Damiano,  its  Byzantine  crucifix, 
37;  care  of  sick  in,  131;  the  cave 
near,  40;  closure  in,  about  12 19,  133; 
its  present  aspect,  140-141;  a  gift 
to  the  Clares  from  the  Camaldolites, 
129;  rebuilding  of,  50-51;  St. 
Francis'  first  days  there,  40;  St. 
Francis  leaves  it,  summer,  1225, 
316;  St.  Francis  sells  horse  and 
cloth  from  his  father's  store  for  its 
benefit,  39;  St.  Francis  supplies 
money  for  oil  for  its  sanctuary  lamp, 
39;  special  Rule  for,  185;  the  voice 
from  the  crucifix,  38. 

San  Fabiano,  vintage  of  the  priest  of, 
316-317. 

San  Rufino,  church  of,  62-63. 

San  Salvatore  degli  Pareti,  77. 

San  Severino  cloister,  154. 

Sant'  Angelo  of  Panso,  St.  Clara  and, 
128. 


424 


INDEX 


Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  in  Assisi, 
St.  Clara  received  into  religion 
there,  134-135;  the  name  of  Por- 
tiuncula,  54. 

Santa  Maria  della  Rocca,  49,  156. 

Santa  Maria  del  Vescovado  restored, 
1216,  54. 

Seminary  in  Paris,  236. 

Septizonium  of  Septimus  Severus,  152. 

Sermon  to  the  birds,  the,  149-150. 

Seville,  preaching  in,  199. 

Silvester,  B.,  choice  of  life,  145; 
complains  of  price  paid  him  for 
stone  for  S.  Damiano,  65;  conver- 
sion, 65;  his  dream,  97-98;  dream 
of  St.  Francis,  298;  longed  to  be 
alone,  106;  "no  one  can  serve  two 
masters,"  65;    and  St.  Clara,  123. 

Sinner,  the  dying,  described  by  St. 
Francis,  268-269. 

Sinning  Brothers,  how  to  treat,  249- 
250. 

Speculum  perfedionis  written  13 18, 174. 

Stephen,  the  lay-brother,  205. 

Sun  Song,  the,  313-315;  additional 
verses  of  the,  322,  323. 

Terni,  Bishop  of,  and  St.  Francis,  147. 

Testament  of  St.  Francis,  325-328. 

Third  Order  described  by  Bernard  a 
Bessa,  244;  foundation  of  the,  240- 
246;  need  of,  179;   origin,  240-242. 

Thomas  of  Celano,  B.,  70;  the  addi- 
tions to  the  Rule,  215;  describes  St. 
Francis  and  his  prayers,  286;  enters 
the  Order  about  12 14,  163;  goes 
on  the  German  mission,  1220  or 
1 22 1,  210;  his  picture  of  the  life  at 
Rivo  Torto,  101;  and  St.  Francis' 
early  preaching,  98;    St.  Francis' 


first  biographer,  1 2 ;  and  the  twenty- 
eight  admonitions,  217;  his  view 
of  acquaintance  of  St.  Francis  and 
Cardinal  Hugolin,  183. 
Thomas  of  Spalato,  his  account  of 
St.  Francis'  preaching  in  Bologna, 

234-235- 
Todi,  Jacopone  de,  238. 
Tunis,  mission  to,  197. 
Tusculum,  Bishop  of,  and  Giles,  109. 

Universities  founded  in  the  thirteenth 

century,  230. 
Urraca,  Queen  of  Portugal,  gives 

the  Friars   Minor  a  convent  near 

Coimbra,    198-199;     the    Morocco 

Martyrs,  200. 
Urslingen,  Werner  of,  100. 

Vagnotelli,  Guido,  145. 

Valdes,  Peter,  87-88;  his  authoriza- 
tion to  preach,  83;  St.  Francis,  89. 

Velletri,  Cardinal  Hugolin,  bishop 
of,  180. 

Victorinus,  St.,  9. 

Viri  literati,  155-156. 

Vitale,  B.,  falls  sick  in  Arragon,  1219, 
198. 

Washing  of  feet  at  Pentecost  Chapter 

of  1 218,  194-195. 
Washing  the  impatient  leper,  306-307. 
Wadding's   story   of   the   swineherd, 

145-146. 
Walter  III  of  Brienne,  22. 
Werner  of  Urslingen,  100. 
William,  the  first  English  friar,  152. 
Wolf  of  Gubbio,  235,  410. 

Zacharias  joins  the  Order,  1 51-15  2. 


INDEX   TO   APPENDIX 


Actus  beati  Francisci  (Fioretti),  356. 
Actus  beati  Francisci  et  Sociorum  ejus, 

383-384,  393-395- 
Actus  beati  Francisci  in  Valle  Reatina, 

394- 

Affo,  Pater  Ireneo,  343. 

Albert  of  Pisa,  B.,  352. 

Albert  of  Stude,  his  annals,  401. 

Alvisi,  editor  of  Commercium  beati 
Francisci  .  .  .  ,  394. 

"Ancient  Brothers,"  the,  antiqui  fra- 
tres,  388. 

Angelo  Clareno,  B.,  and  Brother 
Leo's  work,  356;  his  chronicle,  387; 
his  letter  of  defence  to  Pope  John 
XXII,  390,  399;  names  the  four 
biographers  of  St.  Francis,  387; 
and  the  Three  Brothers'  legend,  387- 
388;  his  writings,  398-400. 

Angelo  Tancredi,  B.,  394. 

Annates  Minorum,  401-402. 

Anonymus  Perusinus  (Anonymous  Pe- 
rugian),  367-368. 

Antiquitates  franciscanae,  394-395. 

Arnold  of  Serrano,  B.,  possibly 
author  of  the  chronicles  of  the 
twenty-four  generals  .  .  . ,  397;  and 
Gregory  XI,  397;  and  the  Vita 
Secunda,  370. 

Arbor  vita  crucifix®  of  Hubert  of 
Casale,  388. 

Author  of  the  Legenda  Antiqua  anony- 
mous, 392. 


Baldwin  of  Brandenburgh,  395. 

Bartholomew  of  .Pisa,  his  Con- 
formitates,  351,  395;  text  of  the 
laud  written  for  Leo,  349;  and  the 
Vita  Secunda,  375. 

Bernard  of  Bessa,  author  of  De 
laudibus  S.  Francisci,  381;  a  com- 
piler, 381;  St.  Bonaventure's  sec- 
retary, 381. 

Biographers,  35i~395- 

Bollandists'  "  Second  biography  of 
St.  Francis,"  354. 

Boehmer,  Analekten  zur  Geschichte 
etc.,  403-404.  Eccleston,    Thomas 

Book  of  Lessons  from  Toulouse,  355. '      chronicle,  343,  396. 

425 


Cesarius  of  Speier,  B.,  352. 

Catalogue  of  the  first  twenty-four 
generals  of  the  Order,  396-397. 

Catalogus  sanctorum,  401. 

Cantius,  John,  355. 

Civezza  Marcellino  da,  B.,  363. 

Chapter  of  Geneva,  1244,  357;  of 
Narbonne,  1260,  378;  of  Padua, 
1277,  invited  new  researches  for  the 
life  of  St.  Francis,  381;  of  Pisa, 
1263,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
early  legends,  380-381. 

Chiusi's  Letter  of  Donation,  401. 

Chronica  XXIV  generalium,  382,  397. 

Chronicles  of  the  (first)  twenty-four 
generals  of  the  Order,  397. 

Chronicon  breve. 

Civezza's,  da,  reconstruction  of  the 
Three  Brothers'  Legend,  365. 

Collaborators  in  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  357. 

Collections  of  "Words"  of  the  early 
Friars,  368. 

Commercium  beati  Francisci  cum  do- 
mina  paupertate,  394. 

Conformitates,  395. 

Conrad  of  Offida,  B.,  393-394;  friend 
and  informant  of  Hubert  of  Cas- 
ale, 388;  and  John  of  Parma,  388. 

Crescentius  of  Jesi,  357;  and  the 
Vita  Secunda,  368-369. 


d'Alencon,  Edouard,  and  the  Vita 
Metrica,  355;  his  editorial  work, 
394,  404. 

Dante  and  the  Commercium  beati 
Francisci  .  .  .  ,  394. 

De  laudibus  Sancti  Francisci,  381. 

Destruction  of  the  early  legends,  380- 

Dicta  fratris  Leonis,  397. 
Die  Wundmale  des  hi.  Franz  von  Assist, 
408. 

DOMENICHELLI,  TEOFILO,   B.,   363;  his 

reconstruction  of  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  365. 


B.,    and    his 


426 


INDEX 


Ehrle,  344;  Angelo  of  Clareno's 

Historia  septem  tribulationum,  etc., 

399,  400. 
Elias  of  Cortona,  345;   his  letter  to 

Gregory  and  the  French  Brothers, 

408-409. 
Epistola  excusatoria  of  Angelo  Cla- 

RENO,  399. 

Eubel  and  Glassberger's  Chronicle, 
398;  and  John  of  Komorowo's 
Works,  398. 

Fabian  of  Hungary,  B.,  his  Speculum 
vita  beati  Francisci  et  sociorum  ejus, 

394-395- 

Faloci-Pulignani's  text  of  the  laud 
written  for  Leo,  n.,  349;  the  Three 
Brothers'  Legend,  366. 

Fioretti,  the  translation  or  develop- 
ment of  the  A  ctus  beati  Francisci  .  .  ., 

394. 
Francesco    Bartholi,    B.,    on    the 

Portiuncula  Indulgence,  394. 
Francisco  d'Assisi   e  la  sua  legenda, 

406. 
Franz  von  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  der 

Kunst  der  Renaissance  in  Italien, 

406-408. 

Gesta  Dei  per  francos,  401. 

Giles,  B.,  394;  at  Monte  Ripido,  367; 
his  death,  368. 

Glassberger's  Chronicle,  398;  and 
Julian  of  Speier's  Legend,  354. 

Gonzalvo  of  Balboa,  general  of  the 
Order,  391. 

Gotz  accepts  St.  Francis'  letter  to 
St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  349;  and 
Anonymus  Perusinus,  368;  and 
Hubert  of  Casale,  390;  and  the 
Speculum  beati  Francisci  .  .  .  ,  387; 
and  the  Vita  prima,  353;  and  the 
Vita  secunda,  371. 

Gregory  IX  orders  Thomas  of 
Celano  to  write  a  life  of  St.  Francis, 
352;  the  Testament,  350-351;  and 
Brother  Arnold  of  Serrano,  397. 

Gubbio,  the  wolf  of,  410. 

Henry  of  Pisa,  author  of  the  Vita 
metrica,  355;   Salimbene,  355. 

Historia  occidentalis ,  401;  septem 
tribulationum  ordinis  minorum,  400. 

Histories  of  the  Order,  395-400. 

Hubert  of  Casale,  Avignon,  388- 
390- 

Hugolin  of  Monte  Giorgo,  B.,  394. 

Hugolin's  Register,  400. 


Illuminato,  B.,  and  St.  Bonaven- 
ture's  Legend,  379. 

Jacob  of  Massa,  B.,  394. 

Jacob  Oddi,  B.,  n.,  398. 

Jacob  of  Varaggio  and  his  Golden 
Legend,  401. 

Jacopone  da  Todi,  343. 

John  XXII  and  the  "Zealous"  divi- 
sion of  the  Order,  390. 

John  of  Ceperano,  354-355. 

John  of  Komorowo,  his  chronicle, 
397-398;  his  Memoriale  ordinis  fra- 
tium  minorum,  398. 

John  of  Parma,  B.,  and  Conrad  of 
Offida,  B.,  388;  possibly  author 
of  commercium  beati  Francisci.  .  .  , 
394;    and    the    Vita  secunda,  372- 

373- 
John   Peckham,    B.,    Archbishop   of 

Canterbury,  381. 
John  of  La  Verna,  B.,  394. 
Jordanus  of  Giano's,  B.,  Chronicle, 

37o,  395-396- 
Julian  of   Speier,   B.,   biographical 

notes  of,  354;    his  legend,  354;   his 

rhymed  Office,  354~355- 

Karl  Hampe,  his  criticism  and  inter- 
pretation of  Elias  of  Cortona's 
letter  to  Gregory  and  the  French 
Brothers,  409;  Die  Wundmale  des 
hi.  Franz  von  Assisi,  408. 

Karl  Hase's  biography  of  St.  Fran- 
cis, 402. 

Legenda  Antiqua,  356,  39i~393- 

Legenda  trium  sociorum,  356-366. 

Legend  by  the  Anonymous  Perugian, 
367-368. 

Lemmens'  publication  of  S.  Isidore 
M.S.  of  pieces  by  Brother  Leo, 
389;  and  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  366. 

Leo,  B.,  his  associations,  382-383; 
his  Leaves  of  Memory,  383 ;  his  rela- 
tion to  the  Speculum  perfectionis , 
Legenda  antiqua  and  Actus,  383-384; 
his  schedules  or  rolls,  383,  387;  his 
work,  356. 

Letter  to  Crescencius  accompanying 
the  Three  Brothers'  Legend,  text 
and  discussion,  357-358. 

Liber  epistolarum  beati  Angeli  de 
Clareno,  399. 

Little,  A.  G.,  and  the  decree  of 
destruction  of  legends,  405-406. 

Liturgical  Legends,  355. 


INDEX 


Malan,  Chaving  de,  his  Vie  de  S. 
Francois  d' Assise,  402. 

Mandachs,  C,  407. 

Mariano,  the  Florentine  Chronicler, 
340;  and  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  361. 

Matthew  of  Paris,  his  Historia 
major,  401. 

Memoriale  ordinis  fratrum  minorum, 
398. 

Michael  of  Cesena,  General  of  the 
Order,  391,  393;  ordered  the  "Old 
Legend"  to  be  read  aloud  in  con- 
vents, 391. 

Michael  Em.,  on  Salimbene's  Chron- 
icle, 396. 

Minochi,  Salvatore,  his  Nuova  fonte 
biographica,  405;  his  MS.,  of  the 
Speculum  beati   Francisci  .  .  .  ,  386. 

Monnier,  le,  and  Leon,  Histoire  de 
S.  Franqois  d' Assise,  402. 

Muller,  Carl,  Die  Anfdnge  des 
Minoritenordens  .  .  .  ,  402;  and 
Jordanus  of  Giano's  Chronicle, 
397- 

Muzio  Achillei  and  the  Three 
Brothers'  Legend,  364. 

Nicolo  Papini,  402. 
Notizie    sicure     sopra    s.    Francesco, 
Papini's,  402. 

Oddi's,  Jacob,  Italian  Chronicle,  398. 
Officium  passionis  Domini,  349. 
Ozanam,  his  Les  poetes  Franciscains 
d'ltalie,  402. 

Papal  Bulls  as  sources  for  the  Life  of 
St.  Francis,  400. 

Papelbrock  and  the  Anonymous 
Perugian,  367. 

Peter  John  Olivi,  B.,  and  Brother 
Leo,  387. 

Pietro  de  Nadeli,  his  Catalogus  Sanc- 
torum, 401. 

Pilgrim  of  Bologna,  B.,  397. 

Quaracchi  edition  of  St.  Francis' 
writings,  340-341. 

Rosedale,  Francis  of  Assisi,  accord- 
ing to,  404-405. 

Sabatier,  Paul,  and  the  Actus  beati 
Francisci  .  .  .  ,  394;  and  Angelo 
Clareno,  399;  and  Bernard  of 
Bessa,  381;  his  edition  of  the 
Speculum  perfectionis,  364;  and  the 


427 

Mazarin  M.S.,  of  the  Speculum 
beati  Francisci  .  .  .  ,  363,  384-387; 
his  role  in  Franciscan  research,  339; 
and  the  Speculum  Vitce  S.  Francisci, 
362-363;  his  theories,  339;  and  the 
Three  Brothers'  Legend,  362,  384- 
387 ;  Vie  de  S.  Franqois  d' Assise,  402 ; 
the  Vita  secunda,  371. 

St.  Anthony  of  Florence,  401. 

St.  Bonaventure's  amplification  of, 
early  legends,  379;  his  book  of  1263 
and  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend, 
360;  date  of  birth,  378;  history  and 
origin  of  his  Legend,  378-381. 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi  and  Benedict 
of  Prato,  351;  blessing  of  Brother 
Leo,  described  with  the  text,  344, 
345-349;  Forma  vivendi  of  the 
Ckres,  350;  Gotz,  Walter,  and 
the  blessing  of  Brother  Leo,  348; 
Gotz  and  the  Testament,  350;  Gotz 
and  the  Three  Brothers'  Legend, 
366;  greeting  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
344;  Hasse,  Carl,  and  the  Testa- 
ment, 350;  Julian  of  Speier  and 
the  Testament,  350;  Kraus,  F.  X., 
and  the  Blessing  of  Brother  Leo, 
348;  Laudes  Domini,  343,  344; 
Laudes  de  Virtutibus,  344;  Lempp 
accepts  St.  Francis'  letter  to  St. 
Anthony  of  Padua,  349;  Leo's, 
B.,  note,  347;  Leo  preserves  St. 
Francis'  writing,  345;  Leo,  his 
secretary,  340;  minor  Italian  songs. 
not  authentic,  343;  Oddi,  Jacob, 
his  text  of  the  laud  written  for  Leo, 
349;  praise  songs  or  lauds,  342;  both 
preacher  and  writer,  340;  prose 
writings,  349-351;  Rules  of  the 
Orders,  350;  Sabatier,  Paul,  and 
the  Blessing  of  Brother  Leo,  348; 
Sabatier  and  St.  Francis'  letters, 
349-350;  Sabatier  and  the  Testa- 
ment, 350,  351;  Sabatier,  his  view 
of  St.  Francis'  letter  to  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua,  349;  St.  Clara  and  the 
Clares,  testamentary  notes  for,  351; 
Salutatio  virtutum,  344;  song  about 
creatures,  342-343;  "  Sun  Song,"  the. 
342-343;  the  Testament,  350-351; 
"The  three  Words,"  n.,  35 1 ;  Thomas 
of  Celano  and  the  Testament,  350; 
Ultima  Voluntas  to  the  Clares,  350; 
Wadding,  1619,  sees  the  "Blessing 
of  Brother  Leo,"  345;  "Words  of 
St.  Francis,"  340;  his  writings, 
34o. 

Salimbene's,  B.,  chronicle,  396;   and 


428 


INDEX 


Henry  of  Pisa,  355;  and  the  Vita 

secunda,  369-370. 
Simon   of   Cassia   and   Angelo   of 

Clareno,  399. 
Speculum  beati  Francisci  et  Sociorum 

ejus,  384,  386;    only  a  compilation, 

387;  discussion  of  the  Mazarin  MS., 

384-387.  . 
Speculum  historiale,  401. 
Speculum  perfectionis,  339,  343. 
Speculum    perfectionis  fratis   minoris, 

356,  363- 
Speculum  perfectionis  and  Vita  secunda, 

376-377.  _ 
Speculum  vita  S.  Francisci  et  sociorum 

ejus,  351,  362. 
Stanislas  Melchiorri,  363. 
Stilling,  the  Bollandist,  402. 
Storia  de  S.  Francesco,  Papini's,  402. 
Suysken,  the  Bollandist,  361,  402. 

Tamassia,  Nino,  406. 

Thode,  Henry,  defends  Thomas  of 
Celano  against  Sabatier,  407-408; 
Der  hi.  Franz  von  Assist  .  .  .  ,  402; 
Franz  von  Assisi  und  die  Anfange  .  .  ., 
406;  and  St.  Bona  venture's 
Work,  379;  his  views  of  the  status 
of  the  early  biographies  of  St. 
Francis,  407. 

Thomas  of  Celano,  biographical 
notes  on,  341,  344,  35*,  352;  de- 
scribes the  writing  of  the  Vita  prima, 
353-354;  his  Vita  prima,  352;  his 
Vita  secunda,  356,  368-378. 

Thomas  of  Spalato's,  B.,  testimony, 
401. 

Tileman  and  Bernard  of  Bessa,  381 ; 
his  comments  on  the  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,  365;    and   St.   Bonaven- 


ture's  work,  392;  the  "Three 
Brothers,"  357,  368-369. 
"  Three  Brothers'  Legend,"  attempt 
at  reconstruction  of,  364;  disappear- 
ance of,  377-378;  discussed,  359- 
374;  and  Thomas  of  Celano's  Vita 
secunda,  365;  and  the  Vita  secunda 
compared,  371-3 74- 

van  Ortroy  and  the  Anonymus  Peru- 
sinus,  368;  and  the  date  of  the  Ma- 
zarin MS.,  of  the  Speculum  beati 
Francisci  .  .  .  ,  386;  and  the  decree 
of  destruction  of  Legends,  406;  and 
Jordanus  of  Giano's  Chronicle, 
396;  and  the  "  Three  Brothers' 
Legend,"  366. 

Vincent  of  Beauvais  and  his  Specu- 
lum historiale,  401. 

Vita  metrica,  355. 

Vita  prima,  its  divisions  compared, 
372-374- 

Vita  secunda,  356,  368-378;  its  origins 
summarized,  377;  mostly  a  reediting 
of  the  "  Three  Brothers'  Legend," 
375;  rests  on  two  foundations,  377. 

Vita  secunda  and  Speculum  perfectionis, 
376-377;  and  the  "Three  Brothers' 
Legend,"  3 7 1-3 74. 

Vitry's,  Jacob  of,  letters,  401. 

Wadding,  Luke,  B.,  340,  401-402; 
and  the  chronicles  of  the  twenty- 
four  generals  .  .  .  ,  397;  and  the 
Quaracchi  editors,  341,  349;  and 
the  "  Three  Brothers'  Legend,"  361. 

Wolf  of  Gubbio,  the,  410. 

Zambroni,  the  "Three  Brothers' 
Legend,"  364. 


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